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China to Spend 3.6 Bln Yuan on soil Conservation
The Chinese government will invest about 3.6 billion yuan in a program to retire vulnerable farmland for conservation purposes this year, the State Administration of Forestry (SAF) announced Friday.
About 330,000 hectares of farmland will be restored to forest or grassland this year, and trees are grass are to be planted in 490,000 hectares of barren land that is fit for the purposes, said the SAF source.
The program aims to reduce the volume of sand and soil injected into the two major rivers in China.
It set up 174 pilot counties along the upper reach of the Yangtze River and the upper and middle reaches of the Yellow River last year.
The source noted that the program will be extended to 20 provinces and regions in China from 17 last year. Most of 36 new pilot counties are along Dongting Lake in Central China's Hunan Province, Poyang Lake in Southeast's Jiangxi Province, and in Northwest's Shanxi Province and Xinjiang Autonomous Region.
The government will continue to offer subsidies to households, that live on farmland restored to forests, in the form of cash or grain, said an SAF official.
Farmers can get subsidies in five years if they plant trees for commercial purposes on their former farmland, while those planting trees for environmental protection enjoys eight-year subsidies from the government.
The authorities have decided that only 20 percent of the farmland restored to forests or grassland can be developed into commercial forests and the rest must be used for conservation. (1 US dollar = 8.277 yuan)
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