China's cultivated farmland area decreased by 800,000 hectares in 2004 due to housing construction, environmental degradation and the campaign of recovering farmlands, according to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Land and Resources published Tuesday.

The ministry attributed the decrease of farmland area mainly to the campaign of returning farmland to green land, which turned 732,600 hectares of farmland into forests, grasslands and lakes in 2004.

The campaign aims to improve the country's environment.

A previous survey by the ministry showed that the country lost 7.6 million hectares of cultivated land between October 1996 and October 2004.

Source: Xinhua