Procuratorial organ strengthens efforts against misuse of farmland

YINCHUAN, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- For one and a half years, Xie Yuqin had been dealing with a case involving a piece of idle farmland in Helan County, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

Now, Xie, procurator at Helan County People's Procuratorate, is gratified to know that the 5.54-hectare land has been back to farming after over six years of staying unused.

When returning to her home village in June 2021 to visit her parents, Xie saw a large piece of weed-covered idle land. "I grew up in the village, and each piece of farmland is so dear to me. When I saw the idle land, I felt sad," she said.

Xie and her colleagues then started an investigation into the case and used cameras and drones to fix the evidence of pictures and videos obtained from the scene.

"We later knew that the land was originally intended for breeding. It, however, has not been put into use due to land policies and other reasons and has been abandoned since 2016," Xie said.

After receiving the procuratorial advice, relevant local authorities conducted a deeper joint investigation and ordered the owner of the land, a small oil company, to restore the land to farming immediately.

In the summer of 2022, the cultivated land that had been abandoned for some six years was planted with maize seeds by a drip irrigation system.

"More than one year of land consolidation has helped the land gradually recover, and it will be full of vitality again next spring," Xie said.

To protect agricultural resources, the county's procuratorate has been strengthening efforts against the misuse of land, preventing the farmland from being planted with grass and trees or being idle.

"We have also been focusing on illegal uses of farmland and restored nearly 20 hectares of land into farming in the county since 2021," said Yang Tao, deputy chief procurator of Helan County People's Procuratorate.

The procuratorate has also worked out an implementation plan to protect farmland for the long term and made disputes over farmland a priority in its work, according to Yang.