Balancing farmland protection, development

Restoration strategy seeks harmony between agriculture and rural industries

The Ministry of Natural Resources has called for strict protection of arable land while balancing the interests of farmers and rural industry development, ahead of the country's annual National Land Day, which falls on Wednesday this year.

Farmland is considered critical to ensuring food security for China's population of 1.4 billion. The country has drawn a red line of 120 million hectares of farmland that must be preserved exclusively for agricultural use, not for construction or other non-agricultural purposes.

At a news conference on Friday, the ministry stressed that the red line must not be breached and that high-quality farmland should be prioritized for grain production.