China's grain production will fall by 15 million tonnes, or about 2.5 percent, in the five years to 2020, as the government withdraws severely polluted or degraded farmland for rehabilitation, a state planner official said on Wednesday.
Under the proposal, some five million hectares of land - about four percent of the country's total arable land - will be taken out of production and either rehabilitated or turned over to forest or grasslands, said Wu Xiao, head of the rural economy division at the National Development and Reform Commission. The move comes after China has built up a huge surplus of grain stocks in recent years. The cut in output would not impact food security, Wu said.
Large swathes of China's arable land have been severely polluted by excess use of agricultural chemicals or by industrial waste, while much of the soil has also been depleted of organic matter. The government has previously said that 3 million hectares of farmland was too polluted for food production. China's grasslands are under pressure from growing demand for hay to feed its dairy and livestock herds.
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