The products will be used in fish farming, allowing farmers to replace fishmeal and soy with a high-quality ingredient that requires no arable land and no plant matter.

这些产品将用于养鱼，使农民能够用一种不需要耕地和植物的高质量成分代替鱼粉和大豆。

"Food security can only be guaranteed by sufficient arable land and modern agricultural technologies," said Zhao Jiuran, director of the Corn Research Center, which is part of the Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forest.

“粮食安全只能通过充足的耕地和现代农业技术来保证，”北京农林科学院下属的玉米研究中心主任赵久然说。

Demand was strongest for the group's technologies enabling farmers to grow crops in difficult weather conditions while also increasing yields and productivity of existing arable land.

The county does not have much centralized arable land, and it is one of the key targets of the country's poverty alleviation work.

More than 15,000 subsidized products have been put on Pinduoduo's platform for direct sale, including agricultural machinery, plastic films, seeds, fertilizers and other producer goods, which are expected to cover more than 666,000 hectares of arable land.

After three generations of efforts, the 6,670 hectares of land became arable again.

"We do not take over arable land when it comes to industrial development," Zhu said.

"Low yields guarantee high quality, especially in the northern province, where my company manages 20,000 hectares of arable land," Kilybayev said.

Chinese investment revived about 3,000 hectaresxa0of arable farmland in Naumovka, providing jobs to more than 130 villagers.

It is difficult to expand the blueberry planting area because of strict measures aimed at protecting arable land that is used to grow grain.

"Southwest China's Sichuan province is home to 96.95 million mu of arable land as of 2022 and ranks ninth nationwide in terms of grain production.

"China's food security is firmly supported by the sufficient supplies of staple grains, ensured by 1.8 billion mu (120 million hectares) of arable land, new farming technologies and practical grain import policies," he added.

Grain output this year should be stabilized at above 650 million metric tons and the country must retain a red line of 120 million hectares of arable land, according to the document.

Meanwhile, China will greatly increase the capacity of soybean and oil crops and promote the combined planting of corn and soybeans, while increasing subsidies for rotation of arable land and incentives for counties that are large producers of edible oils, it said.

The document urged authorities to strictly implement measures to protect arable land and strengthen regulations governing its use.

Efforts should be made to ensure the country's grain output remains above 650 million tonnes, solve the two key issues, namely seed and arable land, and secure a good start for rural and agricultural modernization, according to authorities.

With vast arable land, a favorable climate, abundant water resources and support from China, the project is scheduled to cover 20,000 hectares (20 square km).

"CAREC countries need to foster industries able to process the region's rich endowments with natural resources like metal ores, hydrocarbons, arable land and other areas.

Despite the uncertainties that the world's food and agricultural sectors face over crop yields and global trade flows in the context of climate challenges, COVID-19-related turmoil and logistics issues, they said China, backed by its 1.8 billion mu (120 million hectares) of arable land, new farming technologies and practical grain import policies, is capable of ensuring its grain security in 2023.

They could hardly make a living from farming alone, but the idea of leasing agricultural plots to tourists helps maximize the development potential of available arable land.

"This is just our first trial, but it serves as a good example for our future possible development models regarding rural revitalization," Ai said, adding that as such small-scale activities do not cause damage to arable land, such initiatives can help multiply the value of a small piece of farmland some fifty-fold.

However, Wang also warned that new restrictions on land use could pose a threat to future capacity growth, with China currently planning on new rules to restrict solar developers from building on arable land or coastlines and riverbanks.

Vast arable land, new farming solutions, import policy back nation up amid woesChina's grain security will not be disrupted by the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and soaring prices of many agricultural products across the world this year, as its self-sufficiency in staple grain production remains high amid growing external problems, said experts and business leaders.

Despite global food and agriculture sectors facing uncertainty over crop yields and global trade flows, in the context of climate challenges, COVID-19-related turmoil and logistics challenges, experts and business leaders said China, backed by its 1.8 billion mu (120 million hectares) of arable land, new farming technologies and practical grain import policies, is capable of ensuring its grain security in 2022.

Xiao added that sites where construction residue was disposed of must be cultivated into orchards or arable land, which not only reduces the effect on the environment, but can create new agricultural businesses for local farmers.

The plan also identified forest and grass planting areas to ensure that no arable land or permanent farmland is occupied.

"The strategy, first proposed in the report to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2017, promotes the protection of arable land resources, traditional villages and rural features, and the improvement of the rural living environment.

In his work, spanning more than five decades, he helped China work a great wonder－feeding nearly one-fifth of the world's population with less than 9 percent of the world's total arable land.

"We will push forward an all-round 'farmland chiefs system' to firmly curb non-agriculturalization of arable land and strictly guard the permanent basic farmland and observe the bottom line of the cultivated land area," Kang said.

To make up for the occupied farmland, the district will have to turn the same amount of construction land into farmland elsewhere to ensure that the minimum amount of arable land is maintained, said Wang with Jiutai's natural resources bureau, adding that all land transactions have to be approved by villagers.

Triso Daye, head of a cooperative in Chengduo County of Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, said all the cooperative's 714 mu of arable land has been planted with black highland barley that will be sold at twice the price of the common variety.

For the long run, Heilongjiang should enhance protection of its core arable lands and balance urban and rural development, said Cong Li, member of the provincial committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

A Chinese expert called for effective land use in city development, as the country's status quo reflects short supplies of arable and livable land, as well as waste.

This is not easy, given that we have 20 percent of the world population but only 7 percent of arable land.

The No 1 document emphasizes that the country must retain a "red line" of 1.8 billion mu (120 million hectares) of arable land.

Food production can only be guaranteed by quality seeds and sufficient arable land, said Zhao Jiuran, director of the Corn Research Center under the Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forest.

Arable land and seed industry are important guarantees to solve the issues of food shortages.

Despite an overall favorable situation concerning food security, China, with a growing grain demand, faces multifaceted challenges, including limited and low-quality arable land and increasing difficulty in securing stable and higher grain output, said Minister of Justice He Rong.

Rahamtalla Mohamed Osman, permanent representative of the African Union to China, told the forum that his continent has 65 percent of the world's remaining uncultivated arable land, and at least one-sixth of global plant species, including many food crops of African origin such as wheat, barley, millet, sorghum, teff, coffee, cowpea and oil palm.

In Baimazhuang village in the city of Zhuozhou, one of the areas in northern Hebei province hit by floods last month, all 690 mu (46 hectares) of arable land in the village was flooded, according to Yang Hong, Party secretary of Baimazhuang village.

A new draft law is expected to protect arable land and ensure food security in China.

The country will set up "two lines" — the red line of land protection and the bottom line of ecological security to strictly protect arable land, the draft said.

China's top natural resources authority released a notice recently banning lower-level governments from improperly labeling arable land just to make their records look good.

Through 2035, the country aims to maintain 124 million hectares of arable land to guarantee its food security, according to the central government.

The campaign protecting arable land strictly controls the usage of such land for forestry, grassland and construction purposes, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources.

However, some local governments have forcibly uprooted trees and filled aquaculture ponds to create more arable land during peak growing and harvesting seasons.

The move prohibits natural resources departments from adopting one-size-fits-all approaches to pursuing favorable data in their arable land coverage reports amid the national campaign.

"Pursuing a balance in the arable land sheet at the expense of the quality of the land will result in the loss of arable land," the notice said.

It prohibits the cultivation of arable land on slopes above 15 degrees in important water source areas and steep slopes above 25 degrees.

The notice forbids the cultivation of arable land in areas of desertification or with serious soil erosion, fragile ecology, severe pollution or any other conditions that would make it difficult to restore.

Occupying plains with construction projects and supplementing mountainous areas as arable land are also banned.

The campaign requires protecting the red lines of arable land, and cracking down on the illegal occupation of it and on damage to the environment.

According to the national land survey, China lost 7.5 million hectares of arable land between 2009 and 2019.

The Ministry of Natural Resources has banned forcibly uprooting trees and filling aquaculture ponds to return them for arable land during peak growing and harvesting seasonsxa0of fruit trees and fish ponds.

The move aims to prohibit local natural resources departments from adopting one-size-fits-all approaches to pursue good data in their arable land coverage reports amid the national campaign of protecting arable land.

"Behaviors that pursue a balance in the arable land sheet at the expense of quality of the land will result in the loss of arable land," the notice said.

For example, it prohibits the cultivation of arable land in slopes above 15 degrees in important water source areas and steep slopes above 25 degrees.

The notice forbids the cultivation of arable land in desert areas and areas with serious soil erosion, fragile ecology, severe pollution or any other conditions that would make it difficult to restore.

The campaign requires protecting red lines of arable land and cracks down on illegal occupation of arable land and damage to the environment.

The country must retain at least 120 million hectares of arable land to guarantee its food safety, according to the government.

Going forward, he said China will work to beef up grain production capacity by focusing on two key factors – arable lands and seeds.

He said the country will further increase its grain production capacity by focusing on two key factors -- arable land and seeds.

Crops help produce more arable land for nationThe importance of food security was emphasized in autumn by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

Agricultural experts stressed the importance of guarding this bottom line firmly and also advised turning another 100 million hectares of saline-alkali soil, also known as saline soil, into arable land.

Some 22 percent of this land is in East Asia, and China has 100 million hectares of saline soil and 128 million hectares of arable land.

China's arable land only accounts for less than 9 percent of the world's total, but it manages to feed about one fifth of the world's population.

The area of arable land in the country covers 128 million hectares, among which 71 million hectares are designated as production areas for grain and key agricultural products.