China to add more high-standard farmland by 2030

BEIJING, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The area of China's high-standard farmland will total 1.2 billion mu (about 80 million hectares) by 2030, an official said Thursday.

Farmland is a cornerstone of food security, and plays a crucial role in the ecosystem and green agricultural development, said Zhang Taolin, vice minister of agriculture and rural affairs, at a press briefing for a recently released guideline on farmland cultivation.

According to the guideline, 280 million mu of high-standard farmland will also be upgraded by 2030.

By the end of 2020, the country had developed 800 million mu of high-standard farmland, which helped increase grain production capacity by 10 percent to 20 percent per mu and save costs by 500 yuan (about 77.7 U.S. dollars) per mu, Zhang said.

To achieve the targets, the ministry will help local authorities improve agriculture infrastructure and ramp up disaster prevention and reduction on farmland, Zhang added.