Official figures showed the country had carried out more than 700 land treatment projects since 1999 with an investment of five billion yuan (US$680 million). This supplemented a total of 800,000 hectares of agrarian land.
Wang Shiyuan, Vice Minister of Land and Resources, said land treatment would be the major way to supplement agrarian land for the country. The supplement potential in this sector was more than 5.5 million hectares.
"The agrarian land reserve concerns a country's food safety," added Chen Zhouqi, director of the consultation and research center under the Ministry of Land and Resources. "The grain output needs to be increased to meet the demand of a growing population."
By 2010, China's population is forecasted to near 1.4 billion. This required a domestic grain output of no less than 500 million tons annually to ensure food safety, according to Chen.
China's grain output was 490 million tons last year and was forecasted to surpass 500 million tons this year.
