[originaltext] A significant effort will be waged this year to bring more st

A significant effort will be waged this year to bring more state-owned land used for non-agricultural purposes into paid land-use contract which will boost land available for agriculture. These lease or contracts agreements will regulate land use while bringing the State income that went uncollected previously.
    To avert the misuse or loss of State land during the transformation, the State Land Administration (SLA) and its local agencies will appraise land use rights before contracting leases, share purchases or other usage agreements. This effort will not only add to the State revenue and improve the management of the land, but will ensure the best use of land resources and control its redistribution.
    Over the past year, some 714,000 hectares of cultivated land have been taken over by industrial and residential development, 14% more than in the previous year. The figure matched the 1992 total, the worst year of China’s farmland shrinkage in the last five years.