Over 40% of China's arable land degradation area

The Ministry of Agriculture issued a “Communiqué on the grading of the quality of cultivated land throughout the country” on the 17th. This is the first time China has classified the cultivated land.

According to the "Communiqué," the country's 1.826 billion mu of cultivated land (land data before the second national land survey) has been ranked from one to ten in descending order of quality.

According to Zeng Yande, Director of the Crop Management Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, in order to understand the soil, the Ministry of Agriculture initiated the investigation of farmland fertility and quality assessment in 2002. After years of data accumulation, from 2013 to 2014, the organization experts analyzed the site conditions of arable land, physical and chemical properties of arable layers, soil management, and soil profile traits, and divided the number and distribution of arable land from one to ten grades.

According to the “Communiqué,” the area of ​​arable land assessed as first- to third-class is 498 million mu, accounting for 27.3% of the total area of ​​cultivated land. This part of the arable land has a high basic capacity, and basically there are no obstacles. It is necessary to carry out agricultural production in accordance with the combination of use and maintenance to ensure that the quality of arable land will be steadily increased.

The area of ​​cultivated land evaluated as 4 to 6 is 818 million mu, accounting for 44.8% of the total area of ​​cultivated land. This part of the arable land is suitable for the environment and climatic conditions. The construction of farmland infrastructure has a certain basis and the potential for increasing production is greatest. It is estimated that by 2020, according to an average increase in the basic level of cultivated land by 1 level, this part of the arable land can achieve a total additional grain production capacity of 160 billion kilograms or more.

The area of ​​arable land assessed as 7 to 10 is 510 million mu, accounting for 27.9% of the total area of ​​cultivated land. This part of the arable land is relatively poor in terms of basic capabilities, production factors are prominent, and it is difficult to achieve fundamental improvement in a short period of time. It is necessary to continuously carry out farmland infrastructure and the intrinsic quality of cultivated land.

What are the current problems with the quality of cultivated land in China? According to researcher Xu Minggang, expert guidance group of cultivated land quality construction and management of the Ministry of Agriculture: “In the past few years, China’s agricultural production has always insisted on high input and high output modes. Long-term high-intensity and over-utilization of cultivated land has been used, and the quality of cultivated land has exhibited three major 'three’. Low 'trend.'

Among them, the “big three” refers to the large proportion of low-yield fields, the degraded area of ​​cultivated land quality, and the large area of ​​polluted arable land. According to investigations, among the available arable land in China, 70% of the total area of ​​arable land is occupied by middle and low-yielding fields. Extensive farming practices, especially excessive fertilizer application, have resulted in degradation of cultivated land quality. At present, the degraded area of ​​cultivated land in China accounts for more than 40% of the total area of ​​cultivated land. Acidification in the southern part of the country, shallow plowing in the North China Plain, and problems of salinization and desertification in the northwestern China It is also very prominent; the rate of pollution exceeding the national standards for arable land in the country reached 19.4%, eutrophication of surface water in the south, nitrate contamination of groundwater in the north, and residues of agricultural film in the northwestern areas.

"Three lows" refers to low organic matter content, low grade of supplementary cultivated land, and low basic land. For a long time, the so-called “balance of compensation” in China's construction land refers to the balance of quantity. According to experts, in general terms, there is a difference of 2-3 grades between the supplemental cultivated land and the occupied cultivated land, of which one grade is equivalent to 100 kilograms of land per mu.