BEIJING - The Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) announced Thursday a total of 70,000 cases of illegal land use were found last year, up 5.8 percent year-on-year, highlighting pressure on land supply at a time of rapid economic growth.

The cases involved a total of 751,000 mu of land (50,067 hectares), up 11 percent, said Li Jianqin, chief of the law enforcement department under the MLR.

Of the illegally used land, 264,000 mu were arable land. However, the use of illegally occupied arable land for non-farming purposes was down 2.4 percent year-on-year, said Li.

A total of 57,000 mu of land were reclaimed after the demolition and confiscation of building that were illegally built last year. Meanwhile, 2,665 people involved in illegal land use cases were punished, 144 of them with criminal charges.

Li said that the illegal land use situation in China remains severe and that the wasteful way of using resources is still a problem in the country.

The Chinese government puts great emphasis on protecting arable land.  To ensure grain security, China sets a "red line" to guarantee its arable land never shrinks to less than 1.8 billion mu (120 million hectares). But the nation, with a population of 1.3 billion people, faces great challenges due to rapid urbanization and massive infrastructure construction.