Returning Farmland to Forest: The State Launches a New Round of Project Construction

On August 19, a reporter learned from the Provincial Forestry Department that recently, with the approval of the State Council, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the State Forestry Administration, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Ministry of Land and Resources jointly issued the "Overall Plan for a New Round of Returning Farmland to Forest and Grassland," marking the official launch of the state's new round of the returning farmland to forest project, which will, during 2014-2020, in a planned way, carry out the return of farmland to forest and grassland on sloping farmland and severely desertified farmland nationwide that meet the conditions.

The "Plan" points out that the new round of returning farmland to forest and grassland will be implemented through a "bottom-up, upper-and-lower integration" approach, that is, on the basis of farmers voluntarily applying for the task of returning farmland to forest and grassland, the central government will verify the total scale for each province and allocate subsidy funds to the provinces; the provincial people's governments shall bear overall responsibility for returning farmland to forest and grassland, and independently determine the subsidy standards to be delivered to farming households.

According to state requirements, Sichuan Province's implementation plan for the new round of returning farmland to forest and grassland is being urgently formulated and is expected to be issued by the end of September.