Quality of reclaimed cultivated land is relatively poor, and the exact quantity remains a mystery
Cultivated Land Status Survey · On-Site Report
“China's cultivated land quantity has already approached the red line of 1.8 billion mu, and is also approaching our psychological defense line. Cultivated land protection has become a major issue concerning the overall national situation and the descendants of the Chinese nation. Protecting cultivated land means protecting our lifeline.” So wrote a research report on the current quality status of newly reclaimed cultivated land and countermeasures provided by relevant departments to a China Economic Times reporter.
The report points out that the relationship between people and cultivated land in China is deteriorating day by day, mainly manifested in two aspects: first, the quantity of cultivated land is sharply decreasing; second, the quality of cultivated land is declining day by day.
“These two reasons subject the implementation of the strategic goal of dynamic equilibrium in total cultivated land to a dual threat, seriously affecting the sustainable development of cultivated land. Improving the quality and quantity of newly reclaimed and supplemented cultivated land has become extremely urgent.” The above report states.
Quantity of Reclaimed Cultivated Land Remains a Mystery
“Logically speaking, reclaimed cultivated land is meant for agricultural production, and the state also stipulates that the acceptance inspection of reclaimed cultivated land requires the participation of agricultural departments. But in reality, the land and resources departments never organize us to participate in the acceptance inspection of reclaimed cultivated land. So how much cultivated land has actually been reclaimed, and where it has all been reclaimed, we have no idea at all.” Multiple grassroots agricultural workers in Jiangxi and Hunan provinces who were interviewed by this newspaper's reporter said.
Relevant personnel from the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Agriculture told this newspaper's reporter that they had repeatedly submitted requests to the land and resources departments to learn about the quality of reclaimed cultivated land and the total area of cultivated land, but were all refused by the land and resources departments on the grounds of confidentiality.
“The land and resources departments are powerful departments. We are not clear about the situation regarding the quantity and quality of cultivated land, and we do not want to find out. We cannot support and do not want to cooperate with your work.” Regarding the reporter's interview, the above-mentioned relevant personnel from the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Agriculture said this to this newspaper's reporter.
He told the reporter that for them, whether cultivated land has been well protected is not important. What is important is that they cannot let the leaders of the land and resources departments complain about them to higher-ups, otherwise their positions might be at risk.
In response, the relevant person in charge of the Cultivated Land Protection Division of the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Land and Resources said in an interview with this newspaper's reporter on August 6 that “this is not the case.” He also said that after organizing materials, they would provide written materials to this newspaper. However, as of the time this reporter filed the story, that division had not provided the relevant “facts.”
In this newspaper's reporter's interviews in 6 counties (cities) in Jiangxi and Hunan provinces, although a few local grassroots agricultural workers said they had participated in the quality acceptance inspection of reclaimed cultivated land organized by the land and resources departments, it was only a symbolic formality.
“The agricultural department was arranged to sign last. In fact, by the time we signed, the reclaimed cultivated land projects had all been completed and the project funds had already been paid. Whether we signed or not no longer mattered.” Multiple relevant persons in charge of grassroots agricultural departments interviewed told this newspaper's reporter.
Quality of Reclaimed Cultivated Land Is Relatively Poor
Apart from the quantity of reclaimed cultivated land being like a “mystery,” the reporter also found during interviews that the quality of reclaimed cultivated land is not optimistic either.
“I do not know what the situation is like elsewhere, but in our Shaoyang, the land used for building houses and development is all good farmland with convenient transportation and good farming conditions, while what is reclaimed is basically mountainous land that cannot be cultivated at all.” On August 12, on a newly opened mountain plot in Cai'e Township, Daxiang District, Shaoyang City, Hunan Province, local villagers told this newspaper's reporter who visited.
The villagers told the reporter that this mountain plot has a total area of more than 1,200 mu and belongs to several nearby villages. Two years ago, the local land and resources department invested funds to level this mountain plot, and then contracted it to a boss from a neighboring county who had long done projects for the land and resources department to plant oil tea.
“This is obviously mountainous land. How can planting oil tea on it turn it into cultivated land?” The villagers asked, puzzled.
According to the reporter's understanding, according to the Measures for the Assessment of the Balance of Occupied and Reclaimed Cultivated Land, which came into effect on August 1, 2006, after a land development and consolidation project is completed, the land and resources management department shall, together with agricultural and other departments, organize acceptance inspection in accordance with the relevant provisions on the acceptance inspection of land development and consolidation projects. Moreover, for land development and consolidation projects implementing reclaimed cultivated land, the grade shall be the same as or higher than that of the occupied cultivated land, and the area of reclaimed cultivated land shall be determined according to the area of occupied cultivated land; where it is truly impossible to achieve the same grade and difficult to guarantee the quality of reclaimed cultivated land, projects of close grade shall be selected, and the area of reclaimed cultivated land shall be increased according to the method of converting quantity, quality and grade.
In addition, the Measures for the Assessment of the Balance of Occupied and Reclaimed Cultivated Land also stipulates that construction units that occupy cultivated land upon lawful approval shall strip the topsoil of the occupied cultivated land and use it for land development and consolidation projects or for soil improvement of other cultivated land. In areas where conditions permit, the responsible units for reclaimed cultivated land shall use the stripped topsoil to improve the quality of reclaimed cultivated land.
But this newspaper's reporter saw at the site that the soil of this mountain plot is red loam soil, and there was no topsoil of the kind commonly seen in local farmland.
Materials provided by the agricultural department of Shaoyang City show that from 2011 to 2013, the city approved and constructed a total of 201 newly opened cultivated land projects, with an area of about 36,830 mu. Among these newly opened cultivated land projects, the land ownership all belongs to collective ownership, most of the land occupied was good farmland and fertile soil in the suburbs, while the reclaimed cultivated land was mostly chosen in mountainous and hilly areas. In addition, the vast majority of newly added cultivated land generally lacked effective follow-up fertilization measures, resulting in a relatively large gap between the quality of newly opened cultivated land and occupied cultivated land.
“According to the survey results of the quality of newly opened cultivated land in the city over the past nearly 3 years, evaluated according to the farmland quality evaluation system, the site conditions of newly opened cultivated land are poor. Soil samples tested by the Agricultural Product Quality Supervision, Inspection and Testing Center show prominent problems such as low soil fertility and weak capacity to retain and supply fertilizer; imperfect profile development, large ground slope, shallow and thin plough layer, and serious fertilizer and water leakage; texture too sandy or too clayey, and poor soil permeability; relatively strong soil acidity, highly unsaturated base, and incomplete irrigation infrastructure.” The above-mentioned materials provided by the Shaoyang City agricultural department state.