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 | Thursday, April 13, 2000, updated at 11:30(GMT+8) | ||||||||||||
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China | ||||||||||||
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China Ensuring Supply of Quality Seedlings to Western ChinaThe China State Forestry Administration lately issued a circular, urging localities to take concrete steps to provide farmers with quality seedlings in the country's drive to turn farmland to forest in western China. A SFA official said that the supply of seedlings is adequate on the whole, however, the prices of some varieties have surged due to strong demand.The circular asks localities in the region to strengthen market management and firmly stop the illegal raising of seedling prices while setting a top limit on these prices. According to the circular, the seedlings needed in the planned afforestation areas must be provided to farmers free of charge, and state-allocated funds for this purpose will be withdrawn if farmers do not get the seedlings. Strong measures should be taken to eliminate sub-standard seedlings, and if any institutions or individuals are found selling such seedlings, they will be severely punished, the circular stressed. China has launched an ambitious drive to turn farmland to forest in the west to improve the environment, and 340,000 hectares of farmland at the upper reaches of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers will be turned to forest this year, while 430,00 hectares of wasteland and hills are afforested.
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