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Rural Progress Key to Western Success
Grassland protection and special agricultural projects will be main themes in a massive campaign to develop China's western regions.
Such schemes are important in the region because it accounts for half the country's land area and two-fifth of its grassland.
The arrangements will also address the worsening environmental situation in the west and close the economic gap with affluent eastern areas, said Xue Liang, a senior agricultural official.
"Within five years, the western regions will improve 13.3 million hectares of grassland and develop 1.3 million hectares of new meadows, while establishing a sound plant and seed breeding system," said Xue, director-general of the Development Planning Department under the Ministry of Agriculture.
Facilities to monitor and foresee rat and other pest problems will also be enhanced, he said.
The director expected that immediate steps to halt the deterioration of grassland be completed by 2005. Part of this plan includes more grassland nature reserves to be added to the current 13.
Xue said 10 million hectares of reclaimed plowland should be returned to grassland, and environmentally friendly animal husbandry should be developed.
Overgrazing will be prohibited, he said.
As to agricultural production, the official said western regions were key production areas for high-quality cotton, tobacco, fruit and flowers, but in the past they had been plagued by water shortages.
"China plans to develop its western areas as specialty farm produce centers to supply products to Central and East China, and for export," Xue said.
Officials want to tap western regions' plentiful sunshine, heat and unique plants.
High-quality cotton will be based in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, sugar cane in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and in Yunnan Province, vegetables and fruit in Sichuan, Yunnan and Gansu provinces and Xinjiang, and flowers in Shaanxi Province and the Tibet Autonomous Region.
As dry land represents 81 per cent of western China's total arable land, water-saving irrigation technology is essential to sustain agricultural growth, said Xue.
Asked whether western China could support itself in grain, Xue said yes, as long as they improve agricultural production conditions.
The ministry will implement a "soil-fertilizing project" in areas that have better irrigation facilities, such as the Chengdu Basin, the Gansu Corridor, southern Xinjiang and in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
Border trade, especially exchange of agricultural products, should be expanded in China's western regions, which neighbors countries including Mongolia, Russia and others in central and southeast Asia.
The official urged the western regions improve the investment environment to attract foreign funds for grassland conservation and development, animal product processing and specialty agricultural production. (China Daily)
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