Pilot restoration project resurrecting farmland from mining site

Despite scorching temperatures of nearly 38 C, Xu Shisheng visits farmland, which was restored from an abandoned mine site, near his village committee office several times a day to check on rice crops.

The 50-year-old is the Party chief of Beikeng village, located in the Xijiang township of mountainous Huichang county, Jiangxi province. Born and raised in the village, Xu has a special attachment to the farmland.

In the past decade, the local coal gangue mine was mined for cement production, but the work destroyed some of the area's woodland and farmland and harmed the soil.

"I used to feel bad when I saw those mines and the soil erosion, and I always wondered when this place would be green again," he said. The land is vital for our farmers' livelihood and the main source of food for our families. Although planting rice does not make us money, it is an important source of food for rural families, saving us about 3,000 yuan ($450) each year."

Now, recent restoration work has given Xu hope.

"Over the past two years, we have been able to restore a lot of places here. Seeing the rice in the fields, I was particularly excited."

About 1.3 hectares of the former mine site in the village have been restored to farmland, and some plots unsuitable for farming have been planted with trees and grass. Another 2.7 hectares of abandoned land are being processed.

Last year, Huichang was included in a pilot environmental restoration project for counties in Jiangxi. Over the next three years, the project aims to complete the restoration of 228 hectares in 19 towns, with a total investment of 245 million yuan.

By April this year, 20.4 hectares of paddy fields, about 13 hectares of dry land and 35 hectares of forest, grass and other land were restored, according to the county government.

In February, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, the nation's Cabinet, jointly released a guideline to comprehensively advance the work of rural vitalization.

The document asked local authorities to explore the use of idle and abandoned land to develop agriculture while protecting the environment.

Furthermore, it required authorities to promote green development in agricultural and rural areas, carry out projects to protect and restore the environment of rivers and lakes, and strengthen the protection and restoration of virgin forests and the rehabilitation of grassland.

Apart from promoting the restoration of abandoned rural land, the Huichang government has relied on a social capital cooperation model, financing investment of about 1.1 billion yuan to promote the management of three main rivers and some smaller rivers in rural areas.

River management in the county plays an important role in protecting the production of goods, safeguarding residents and improving the local environment, said Hu Jinlin, a manager at Xianglan Junde Water Ecological Development in Huichang, who participated in establishing the restoration project.

"Before the river dredging and related work, roads and farmland were often flooded due to poor drainage during the rainy season, but the situation has radically improved in recent years," Hu said.

Water treatment is also important to the development of rural tourism and aquaculture. During the project, treatment facilities along the rivers have also been improved simultaneously, providing new leisure and exercise spaces for the local people, he said.

Huichang has also strengthened the management of industrial, livestock and poultry pollution, as well as of urban and rural sewage and garbage in recent years. By the end of last year, all of the county's surface water quality, as well as its villages' drinking water sources, had met national standards.