China will improve 200,000 square kilometers of land suffering
from soil erosion in upcoming five years, said sources with the
Ministry of Water Resources.
The proportion of soil erosion land in the country's total
territory will drop from present 36 percent to 34 percent in the
period.
Following the land improvement scheme, farmers will have more
arable land, said E Jingping, vice minister of water resources.
Statistics with the ministry show that during the past five
years, China improved 540,000 sq km of soil erosion fields.
Currently, 3.56 million sq km of land in China suffer from soil
erosion and 1.74 million sq km of land experience desertification,
government statistics show.
(Xinhua News Agency May 6, 2006)