China has so far
converted some 13.4 million hectares of hillside farmland into
forest, according to the latest survey from the State Forestry
Administration.
The project to turn farmland into forest covers 25 provinces,
autonomous regions and municipalities and is aimed to solve the
problem of land erosion. Over 90 percent of the forest created has
been protected well.
In the past five years, the Chinese government has allocated
23.6 billion yuan (US$3 billion) to the project, of which 16.8
billion yuan (US$2 billion)?was used as compensation for
farmers. Statistics show 60 million rural families have benefited
from it.
Bai zhanfu, a farmer in northwestern Shaanxi
Province, said his annual income has jumped nine times from
1999, when his family turned 1.3 hectares of farmland into woods.
The income rise came from the intensive cultivation of the
remaining farmland, plus the compensation from the government, he
said.
The project to convert hillside farmland into forest started in
1999 in a bid to aid the country's afforestation campaign.
(Eastday.com October 6, 2003)