On August 3, a new round of the project to return farmland to forest and grassland was launched in Ningxia.

Since 2000, Ningxia has returned 13.055 million mu of farmland to forest. The autonomous region plans to return 1.63 million mu of cropland to forest in the next six years and the project will need an investment of 2.15 billion Yuan from the central government.

Since the implementation of the first round of returning farmland to forest project, Ningxia’s forest coverage rate has increased from 8.4% to 13.8%. Its soil erosion control rate is near 40%, reducing 40 million tons of sediment flowing into the Yellow River annually.

Meanwhile, the project has benefited farmers greatly because the subsidy the central government grants is as much as 7.521 billion Yuan. Moreover, many relevant industries such as animal husbandry grow stronger as a result of this policy. Despite the great achievement, there is still 1.51 million mu of desertificated farmland.

In the new round of returning farmland to forest project stretching from 2015 to 2020, Ningxia strives to achieve over 16.8% forest coverage rate with its main harness area in the south and middle of the region.