Zhejiang promotes farmland protection

Authorities in East China's Zhejiang province recently issued 20 policies aimed at protecting farmland.

Zhejiang, which has a population of more than 60 million, has a cultivated land area of only 19.36 million mu (1.29 million hectares), and the per capita cultivated land area currently stands at just 0.3 mu, far lower than the world average.

According to the polices, Zhejiang will set up a farmland responsibility system involving 60,000 farmland inspectors. 

Authorities will also set up a digital system application scenario that is connected to 14,000 cameras to monitor 80 percent of the province's farmland. These cameras will be able to inform inspectors of incidents of illegal occupation or destruction of farmlands.

The new polices also propose the promotion of farmland construction, optimization of spatial layout, development of modern agriculture and large-scale agriculture, and the transformation of all basic farmland into high-standard farmland.