China suspends forests plan as food fears grow

Food shortage fears have prompted the Chinese government to suspend the reforestation of marginal arable land, a senior government official said yesterday. The sacrifice of a key environmental restoration project for crop production highlights the growing problem of feeding the world’s biggest population as cities expand into farmland and urban residents consume more meat and vegetables. Lu Xinshe, deputy head of the ministry of land and resources, said the country was struggling to hold the 120 million hectare “red line” considered the minimum land area needed for food self-sufficiency. Any change in the balance of food production causes unease in a country where the elderly still remember the devastating famines of the early 1960s that killed between 15 and 40 million people. The government has been compensating farmers in the north and west of China to give up farmland as a central pillar of its strategy to fight desertification and water shortages. The government’s commitment to self-sufficiency requires the production of 500 million tonnes of grain a year. To maintain this level, the prime minister Wen Jiabao has said the state would increase spending on agricultural production by 20%. (June 24, 2009)