Directors of Institute of Natural Resources and land chiefs of towns and villages in Zixing City can get precise details about the farmland they are responsible for, including the location, size, quality and land use information, from an electronic map on their smartphones. If any violation of the law like farmland encroachment and damage is found, they can locate and report it on the map.

 

In recent years, Zixing has implemented the system of providing the strictest possible protection for farmland, resolutely prohibited farmland use for non-agricultural purposes, and strengthened farmland protection in such three aspects as quantity, quality and ecology, achieving a dynamic balance of farmland occupation and replenishment.

 

Zixing has strengthened organization and leadership by carrying out regular, standardized and institutionalized assessment of farmland protection responsibility targets. Policies including Notice on Implementing the System of Providing the Strictest Protection for Farmland and Implementation Plan of Farmland Chief System in Zixing City have been issued to make sure that responsibility of farmland protection is properly fulfilled. The supervision network of land chiefs at four levels is established to provide all-round protection for farmland.

 

In order to solve the problems in protecting cultivated land, such as difficulty in determining the protection area, regulating illegal farmland encroachment, and low efficiency in land chiefs’ patrolling, Zixing has sought intelligent support from technological means. 

 

It integrates data from departments of ecological environment, water conservancy, agriculture and rural areas, forestry and natural resources to create an electronic map recording all information about farmland across the city. When selecting a project site, reasonable suggestions can be given in time to optimize the scope of project land use, 

 

reduce the occupation of cultivated land and eliminate the occupation of permanent basic farmland with the help of the map.

 

“We will continue to take strict measures to protect cultivated land and strengthen daily supervision to timely detect, prevent and investigate illegal occupation of cultivated land and improve the efficiency of farmland protection,” said an official of the Zixing Natural Resources Bureau.