China has posted a net increase in total area of arable land for three consecutive years, owing to the country's persistent protection of arable land, said the vice minister of natural resources in Beijing on Thursday.
Since 2021, the total area of the country's farmland has expanded by 17.58 million mu (about 1.17 million hectares), vice minister Liu Guohong said at a press conference.
Notably, in 2023, provinces in south China saw a net increase of 7.39 million mu (about 492,667 hectares), addressing the issue of arable land increasing in the north while decreasing in the south.
Liu attributed the significant achievement to the country's sustained efforts to focus on farmland as the lifeline of grain production, improved measures in carrying out reforms, and an accountability mechanism regarding farmland protection.
"Targeting new challenges in arable land protection, we have managed all farmland repurposed for other uses in a unified manner under the system for offsetting cultivated land, and strengthened dynamic balance over provincial gross arable land. Concurrently, we have improved the economic rewards and penalties mechanism for farmland protection, to ensure that areas protecting arable land do not suffer losses and that farmers who protect farmland receive tangible benefits," he said.
Concurrently, China has continuously promoted land saving, intensive and efficient application, and orderly pushed reforms for market-based transfers of rural collective land designated for business construction to make good use of rural land assets.
The country has also strictly controlled the scale of construction land.
Since 2012, the area of construction land per unit of GDP has slumped by 45 percent, effectively meeting urban and rural development needs.
China sees net increase in total arable land area for three consecutive years
Scholars and officials from around the globe have called on countries to reduce their dependency on U.S. dollar by diversifying reserve currencies in their baskets following the Federal Reserve's announcement of a 0.5-percentage-point interest rate cut.
The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday slashed interest rates by 50 basis points amid cooling inflation and a weakening labor market, marking the first rate cut in over four years.
This signals the start of an easing cycle. Starting from March 2022, the Fed had raised rates consecutively for 11 times to combat inflation not seen in forty years, pushing the target range for the federal funds rate up to between 5.25 percent and 5.5 percent, the highest level in over two decades. As the dollar has become a financial weapon of the U.S., whether a tightening cycle or an easing cycle that the Fed kicks off, it would bring a lot of turmoil to the world economy, said the experts.
"I think the world has actually been hit a lot in the recent years by the appreciating U.S. dollar, which in recent times has reached all time high over 20 years. All time high, countries will have to spend more money to buy U.S. goods and services. It also affects the cost of borrowing from other businesses in the world. So, in the double way, I think the world has been hit. When suddenly, they want to lower the interest rate, the world is now actually caught in this very high level of frustration. Businesses just don't know what to do. So I think, in essence, what is very important, what is very important is that countries in the world will have to reduce their dependence on the U.S. dollar, especially in Asia. We have to diversify their currency dependency, perhaps moving to Asian currencies, perhaps moving to a basket of currency that's less heavily weighed on the U.S. dollar," said Lawrence Loh, director of the Center for Governance and Sustainability at the National University of Singapore.
"The United States Federal Reserve's interest rate cuts, it brings shock to the economy, and especially developing countries that have been coming out from the COVID-19. For many years, the dollar has been weaponized by the United States against the developing nations, including Africa and all other developing countries. So therefore, that weaponization is what Africa must resist with alternatives to trade in our own local currencies," said Tshilidzi Bethuel Munyai, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa.
Ignacio Martinez Cortes, a professor of international relations at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, called on developing countries to enhance domestic markets and stabilize their economies as the Fed's interest rate cut may lead to a currency run.
"Following the Fed's interest rates cut, the U.S. economic growth will accelerate, which in turn will trigger a run on the currency. I think when the Fed cuts interest rates, it will trigger a run on the U.S. dollar. In this case, what they (developing countries) need to do is to strengthen the internal market and achieve economic stability by expanding domestic demand," he said.
Experts urge less dependence on USD to offset Fed interest rate cut
