Local authorities plan to curb farmland reduction by creating as many as 20,000 hectares of farmland by 2010 in the Chongqing section of the Three Gorges Dam area.

The world's largest hydropower and flood-control project will inundate 15,600 hectares of farmland in Chongqing alone in 2009 when the water level will rise to 175 meters. The relocation of inundated areas will occupy another 4,000 hectares, according to the local government.

In the next five years, the government of Chongqing Municipality will invest a total of 2 billion yuan (US$241 million) to increase farmland reserves, according to Yang Nianchi, director of the land management department of the Chongqing Land Property Group, the contractor of the farmland increase project.

The farmland increase methods involve conglomerating small pieces of land, turning arable hillsides into terrace fields and blasting bare rocks and covering them with soil to form farmland.

The increased farmland will not only help provide adequate lots for relocated farmers but help preserve water and soil in the dam area to safeguard environmental and ecological balance, the director said.

China has maintained a sustainable farmland development strategy and vowed to maintain farmland area to feed its huge population.

(Xinhua News Agency April 8, 2004)