Arable land contaminated with heavy metals will be withdrawn from agricultural production, a senior Chinese agricultural official said yesterday.

Chen Xiwen, deputy director of the central agricultural work leading team, the top agriculture authority, also said that farmland near river sources, especially drinking water sources, will also be taken out of production if the use of fertilizers and pesticides risked causing pollution.

Arable land contaminated with heavy metals will be withdrawn from agricultural production.

China will start pilot restoration of contaminated farmland this year, according to the "No. 1 Central Document," the first policy document of 2014, issued on Sunday.

A comprehensive plan to address major agricultural and environmental obstructions to sustainable development is also in the pipeline.

The document stressed improvements to the national food security system. In recent years, excessive use of fertilizers, pesticides and plastic film combined with industrial heavy metal and chemical pollution, had hindered the sustainable development of agriculture, said Zheng Fengtian, an agriculture professor at Renmin University of China.

Excessive and improper use of resources has also affected food safety, he added.

China has an estimated 3.3 million hectares of moderately or severely polluted soil, most of which is in developed and grain-producing regions, said Wang Shiyuan, vice minister of land and resources in December.

The polluted areas account for about 2 percent of total arable land which stands at some 133 million hectares.

Every year, 12 million tons of grain are polluted by heavy metals, according to the environmental protection ministry.

China ranks first globally in total fertilizer use, and the use of chemical pesticides is much higher than the world average.

Grain output hit a record high of more than 600 million tons last year. Around 90 percent was rice, wheat and corn. However, agricultural development cannot be the detriment of future generations, Zheng said.

On the one hand, supplies of agricultural produce must be guaranteed. On the other, quality should also be ensured.

Due to lax supervision, river pollution by industrial waste is common.

In some rural areas, farmers irrigate crops with water polluted by untreated waste discharged from plants. The treatment of seriously polluted land needs time, investment and technology.