About 12.3 million hectares, or more than 10 percent of
China's arable
land, is contaminated by pollution and the situation is getting
worse, the Ministry of Land and Resources said.
Arable land pollution, together with declining farm areas, posed
a severe threat to the nation's food production, the Xinhua News
Agency quoted an official from the ministry as saying
yesterday.
The ministry announced this month that the country's arable land
area had shrunk to 121.8 million hectares by the end of last
October, with the loss of 306,800 hectares in the first 10 months
of 2006.
Contaminated land suffered from polluted water, excessive
fertilizer, heavy metals and solid wastes, the official said.
The ministry acknowledged that heavy metals alone had
contaminated 12 million tons of grain and caused losses of 20
billion yuan (US$2.6 billion) each year, adding that polluted grain
would ultimately be a health hazard, Xinhua reported.
Sun Wensheng, minister of Land and Resources, called on the
public to conserve land and other resources for sustainable
economic growth yesterday, the 38th World Earth Day.
"China's economy keeps growing at a rapid rate and demand for
resources is also mounting," he said.
"Thus, there has been more damage done to the environment from
unsuitable resource exploration and development."
Sun reiterated that China must ensure that its arable land never
shrinks to less than 120 million hectares.
"This not only is related to the social and economic
development, but also vital for the long-term interests of the
country," he said.
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Fish released
In another development, 400,000 rare fish, including about
110,000 Chinese sturgeons, were released into the Yangtze River
yesterday to save the river's fish stocks from being wiped out.
Decreasing river levels and pollution have taken their toll on
fish stocks. The number of sturgeon that migrate to the Yangtze
each year to spawn has dropped from 2,176 in 1987 to just 500 now,
Chen Xihua, a researcher from the Yangtze River Fisheries Research
Institute, said.
(Xinhua News Agency April 23, 2007)
