Northeast China promotes conservational tillage on fertile land

As China's most fertile land, the northeastern region, including the provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning and the eastern part of Inner Mongolia autonomous region, accounts for about a quarter of the country's annual grain yields.

According to data from the National Plan for Soil and Water Conservation (2015-30), black soil covers an area of 1.09 million square kilometers in the region, including around 29 million hectares of farmland.

With a high density of organic matter, black soil is very suitable for growing crops. However, long-term cultivation and overuse of fertilizers have caused degeneration of the soil, threatening the local environment and grain production.

At the Central Rural Work Conference last year, President Xi Jinping stressed the importance of black soil protection and cultivation.

During his inspection trip to Lishu county in Jilin province in July, Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, underlined the importance of adopting effective measures to protect the fertile black soil of Northeast China, saying that it should be cared for as if it were the "panda of farmlands".

Xi noted that the black soil fields of the northeastern region, which are capable of producing high agricultural yields, face the problem of declining fertility.