Arable land area above food security red-line

BEIJING - China's arable land amounted to 2.03 billion mu (about 135.4 million hectares) at the end of 2012, 227 million mu more than the bottom line set by the government to ensure food security, according to the result of the second national land survey released on Monday.

The three-year survey disclosed, however, China's per-capita arable land area shrank to 1.52 mu by the end of 2009, far below the world average of 3.38 mu, said Wang Shiyuan, vice minister of land and resources at a press conference.

Wang said China must step up efforts to guarantee the arable land red-line as the per-capita figure is still decreasing due to growing population and accelerating urbanization process.