China Expands Economic Forest AreaIn 2000, China had 20 million hectares of economic forests with the output totaling 60 million tons, the most in the world."China achieved great success in promoting economic forest development. In the past two decades, the output was increased five times with the aid of technological progress," said Zhou Shengxian, director of the State Forestry Administration. The latest survey shows that nut varieties of economic wood are growing well. The output of walnuts, chestnuts and dates all topped the world. The structure of economic forest became more and more reasonable with the bamboo and flora industries increasing rapidly. To date, the bamboo output has reached 15 million tons annually and has contributed to combating poverty in local farming areas. Meanwhile, storage and keep-fresh technology in China has been greatly improved with chestnuts now available all year-round. |
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