The responsibility for protecting farmland is immense, and there must be no mishaps

General Secretary Xi Jinping recently gave important instructions on farmland protection work. He stressed that farmland is our country's most precious resource. Our country's basic national condition of many people and little land determines that we must protect well the farmland that concerns the major matter of feeding more than a billion people, and there must be no mishaps.

For a long time, under the clear requirements of the central authorities, through mechanisms such as farmland responsibility audits, national land supervision, and accountability for illegal land use, our country has always firmly upheld the red line of 1.8 billion mu of farmland. While supporting our country's new urbanization and industrialization, farmland protection has enabled us to firmly hold our own rice bowl, and the achievements are obvious to all. But it must also be seen that phenomena such as "valuing quantity over quality and passing off inferior goods as superior" are relatively common in current farmland protection. In the balance of farmland occupied and supplemented, the total amount has roughly been achieved; from the perspective of quality, the phenomena of occupying superior farmland and supplementing with inferior farmland, and occupying paddy fields and supplementing with dry fields, are relatively prominent, which has led to an overall decline in the quality of our country's farmland.

The situation of "passing off inferior goods as superior, occupying superior farmland and supplementing with inferior farmland, and occupying paddy fields and supplementing with dry fields" is relatively severe, as can be seen from the results of the Second National Land Survey: during the 13 years from 1996 to 2009, the whole country reduced farmland by more than 203 million mu, much of which was high-quality farmland, especially the fertile fields and rich soil in the southeastern coastal areas with good sunlight and water resource conditions. The pain of losing grain production capacity will not be covered up by the numerical political achievements of farmland "balance of occupation and supplementation" carried out in some places, and it is an irreparable major loss.

Under the current situation of accelerated urbanization, to tighten the red line of farmland quality, we must first strengthen the awareness of soil protection, rising from "cherishing land" to the level of "cherishing soil." We must vigorously promote the reuse of topsoil stripped from farmland occupied by construction. To respond to the enormous challenges faced by the balance of farmland occupation and supplementation, we must treat "land and soil" differently, not expropriating soil when expropriating land, and saving soil first when occupying land. Based on an estimate of 5 million mu of farmland occupied each year, if topsoil stripping and utilization were fully carried out, more than 2 million mu of high-quality farmland could be recreated, or 3.5 million mu of medium- and low-yield fields could be improved, raising the farmland quality grade by 2 grades or more. It is urgent to let lost farmland be "recovered after loss" and "brought back to life."

To tighten the red line of farmland quality, precious farmland must be given a chance to breathe. It takes two centuries to naturally form 1 cm of soil, and two to four centuries to form 1 cm of topsoil. Precisely for this reason, it is no exaggeration to say that farmland is as precious as the giant panda. We must strictly implement the No. 1 Central Document of 2015, carry out pilot projects for recuperation and restoration of agricultural resources, and advance the treatment and restoration of soil pollution in a planned and step-by-step manner.

As an ancient country of agricultural civilization, over thousands of years, through natural fertilizers and natural maturation, our ancestors turned heavenly timing into earthly advantage, and the farmland they left behind is exceedingly precious. All localities should earnestly implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions, immediately vigorously pursue implementation, implement the strictest farmland protection system, do a good job in the balance of farmland occupation and supplementation in accordance with laws and regulations, advance rural land circulation in a standardized and orderly manner, and protect our farmland like protecting the giant panda.