CONFIDENTIAL
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period is excluded, the total area of cultivated land lost in the 20 years was 457 million mu, a decrease of 22.8 mil-
lion mu a year.
38.
Owing to capital construction projects, the revision of farmland to animal husbandry and re-afforestation, the illegal occupation by individuals and natural disasters, cul- tivated land has decreased at an annual rate of 14 million to 15 million mu in recent years. This is a serious problem.
According to the latest data of the Ministry of Urban and Rural Construction and Environmental Protection, there are about' 500 million mu of land which may be reclaimed as farmland. However, most of the large and easily reclaim- able areas have been reclaimed.
39.
40.
As 300 million mu of farmland may be lost and 100 million mu of additional farmland may be obtained in the com- ing twenty years, there is still a deficit of 200 million mu. If so, the area of farmland by the end of this century will be reduced to only 1,290 million mu. If the population is kept within 1.2 billion and cultivated land is to be distri- buted at the present rate of 1.5 mu per head, 340 million. people will not have land to cultivate by then. Being aware of such a serious problem, the pragmatists have no alternative but to take some measures before it is too late.
Comment:
1) Six mu (or mou) are approximately equal to one
acre (0.987 acre).
2) According to the Jiangxi provincial news service,
the Jiangxi Provincial Peopl's Government issued a circular on 9th November concerning the above problem. The circular was issued in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the Rural Policy Research Office of the Secretariat of the Party Central Committee and the Ministry of Urban and Rural Construction and Environmental Protection. It contains seven rules, tailored to Jiangxi's local conditions:-
i) It is necessary to strictly control the
use of farmland for housing construction. (Passage omitted.) If farmland must be used for housing construction due to restrictions imposed by natural condi- tions, the request for the land must be carefully examined before it is approved.
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/ii)