China's Main Grain Producer Combats DesertificationHeilongjiang Province, a major grain producer in China, is taking precautions to combat expanding desertification at its western border with Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.The latest monitoring results show that desertification is expanding eastward at 1 kilometer a year, posing a threat to the province which produces 6 percent of China's total grain. Some 300,000 hectares of cultivable land and 250,000 hectares of grasslands are currently under threat from sand which creates 1 billion yuan in economic loss each year. Officials attributed the increasing desertification to over- grazing and wanton reclamation of land, in addition to the dry climate. Officials with the local farming bureau said the province will continue to give up farming and restore forests in hills and in grasslands of 300,000 hectares in the area. Meanwhile, good-quality seeds are being planted in large scale in an effort to improve the grasslands quality. The ban put by the province in 1999 on reclaiming more cultivable land has been carried out seriously. Despite that desertification is getting worse, it can be contained so long as more efforts are given, said a senior official with the provincial forestry bureau. |
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