Guizhou strengthens foundations for farmland protection

As China's only province without plains, Guizhou faces a unique test in safeguarding farmland and food security. With 92.5 percent of its territory covered by mountains and hills, the province must secure food supplies amid steep slopes, fragmented plots, and fragile ecosystems.

To meet this challenge, Guizhou has implemented strict measures to curb non-agricultural and non-grain use of farmland. According to the 2024 national land-use change survey, Guizhou's cultivated land area is 51.73 million mu (3.45 million hectares), a hard-won achievement given the region's challenging natural conditions.

In recent years, the province's natural resources authorities have adopted systematic, innovative approaches tailored to mountainous regions. By strengthening accountability, balancing quantity and quality, optimizing spatial layouts, and utilizing technology, Guizhou has developed practices that align farmland protection with long-term food security.

Historically, Guizhou's terrain produced scattered, sloping, and low-quality farmland that limited efficiency and posed ecological risks – conditions that no longer meet the needs of modern, mechanized agriculture. In response, local governments have promoted scientific planning and spatial adjustment, guiding farmland away from ecologically vulnerable, remote, and fragmented areas toward flatter, contiguous zones with better infrastructure.

In July, the provincial government released the Guizhou Forest–Farmland Spatial Adjustment Plan to encourage the clustering of new cultivated land in areas suited to stable agricultural production. Steep, dry land above 25 degrees, river channels, and other unstable plots are gradually being withdrawn, while orchards and forests have moved uphill and the farmland has shifted downhill, creating a more balanced land-use structure.

These efforts are already yielding results. In Wudang district, for example, nearly 2,000 mu of farmland with slopes under 15 degrees was added in 2024 through careful evaluation and planning, improving land-use efficiency and resilience.