Under a more strict land policy, China's local governments are sparing no effort to clear development zones to make way for grain production.

A latest report shows that 3,763 out of 6,015 development zones across China have been revoked, involving land of 1,600 sq km, including 1,100 sq km retrieved for farmland. The report was made by an inspection team on land use in rural areas under the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee.

As the first country to mark "Land Day" in the world, China faces a shortage of land resources. China has only 123.4 million ha of farmland, or about 0.095 ha per capita and less than half of the world's average. To make the situation worse, industrial development has nibbled away 6.7 million ha of farmland in the past seven years.

"Farmland is the basis of food security, "said Mao Rubai, chairman of the Environment and Resources Protection Committee of the NPC. "The shrinking of farmland has affected the normal economic operation and food security in the country."

With a population of 1.3 billion, China has always put grain security high on its policy agenda, especially as grain output has declined for five years running to reach 431 million tons in 2003, lower than the set warning line of 450 million tons. Affected by the world grain market and decline of domestic grain output, the price of major grain crops, like rice and wheat, all went up by a large margin since October last year.

Agricultural experts acknowledged that to ensure a balance of demand and supply of grain, China's grain growing acreage should be kept at about 110 million hectares each year. But since 2001, the country's grain acreage have been lower than the figure.

In the meantime, some local governments set up too numerous development zones, causing excessive and duplicated projects and further the risk of overheating economy.

Since the beginning of 2003, the central government launched an overall checkup on the development zones as a part of economic macro-control policy. The Ministry of State Land and Resources and the Ministry of Supervision dealt with ten big cases involving land use.

The strike is going on this year. In the first half of 2004, some 42,300 cases of illegal land use have been spotted, and 32,575 of them have been under official investigation. The probes involved some 21,690 sq. km of land, including 13,342 ha of farmland, and 1,431 ha of land has so far been recovered.

In east China's Fujian province, for example, the local government released a notice to close nearly 200 development zones and stopped approval of new projects. In northwest China's Qinghai province, two out of five development zones in the province have been dwindled in size.

Good news about the grain production is coming. "This year's grain growing area is expected to reach more than 100 million hectares, " said Sheng Huaren, vice-chairman of the 10th NPC Standing Committee. "If there are no severe natural adversities occurring, China will hopefully fulfill its target of harvesting 455 million tons of grain this year."