Heilongjiang to Turn More Farmland to ForestsHeilongjiang Province in northeast China plans to turn six million mu (400,000 ha) of farmland into forests and grassland in the next 11 years.Local officials said in the first phase of the program this year, the province will seed 2.69 million mu (179,300 ha) of farmland with trees and grass. When the work is finished in 2010, the area of forests in Heilongjiang will increase to 19.1 million ha, they added. The plan is part of the drive to improve the ecological environment in the province, they said. Excessive reclamation and logging in past years has caused soil erosion in Heilonjiang, known as a major grain-production base in the country. In recent years, Heilongjiang has made tremendous progress in tree-planting and returning farm land to forests; last year, 1.3 million mu (86,600 ha) of farmland were turned to forests and grassland. |
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