19 penalized for illegally occupying farmland

The Ministry of Natural Resources publicized 12 cases on Wednesday in which people illegally occupied farmland.

Nineteen people were fined and imprisoned and ordered to restore the farmland for cultivation.

The ministry and other authorities have implemented stricter measures to investigate and crack down on the illegal occupation of farmland.

"Protecting permanent arable land, which is high quality should not be occupied, is of great significance in ensuring China's food security," the ministry said.

The cases occurred in the provinces of Liaoning, Jilin, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Shandong, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Hainan, Sichuan and Yunnan. There was also a case in Beijing.

In the Beijing case, from October 2020 to March 2021, an individual surnamed Pan organized a group of people to illegally occupy 1.2 hectares of land in Tongzhou district, including 1.1 hectares of farmland for sand excavation.

After completing their work, they filled the holes with construction and domestic waste, and then covered it with soil, the ministry said.

Experts conducted on-site surveys, stating that the arable land had been destroyed.

The People's Court of Tongzhou district sentenced Pan to one year of imprisonment and fined him 100,000 yuan ($13,997) for illegally occupying the farmland.

In the Liaoning case, an individual surnamed Zhang occupied 1.8 hectares of permanent farmland in December 2020 for aquaculture in a village in Panshan county without obtaining land use approval, according to the ministry.

The Panshan County People's Court sentenced Zhang to eight months of imprisonment and fined him 10,000 yuan.