The central government has pledged to protect the nation's cultivated land, vast amounts of which have been used for non-agricultural purposes.

　　According to a circular issued by the State Council yesterday, all arable land should be protected from conversion to forests, orchards, fishery ponds or animal and fowl farm buildings. Such land will also be protected from being used for roadside greenbelts.

　　Efforts will be made to immediately rectify illegal conversion, and occupied arable land should be restored for farming as soon as possible.

　　Key state construction projects that have received approval from the State Council can requisition land. No other entity may do so.

　　The circular said farmland may not be used to create new forests. It orders that the width of roadside greenbelts should be no more than 5 meters on each side, and for town roads no more than 3 meters.

　　The circular requires all provincial-level governments to carry out inspections of all basic arable land and report their results to the State Council.

　　It stresses that local management officials will be held liable together with those directly responsible for massive land loss.

　　The Ministry of Land and Resources and the Ministry of Agriculture are required to conduct a nationwide survey to assess land loss and to assure that local governments have worked effectively.

　　Last year, China lost 2.5 million hectares of arable land, compared to a loss of 11.7 million hectares loss the previous year, according to statistics provided by the Ministry of Land and Resources.

　　China's arable land has been reduced to about 123 million hectares, or 12.8 percent of its total land area, according to the statistics.

　　(Xinhua)