China's State Council has ordered to suspend the country's
"return-farmland-to-forest" program, in order to keep the country's
total farmland area at 1.8 billion mu, or 120 million hectares,
during the current 11th Five-Year Plan.
China previously planned to turn 20 million mu, or 1.33 million
hectares of farmland back to forest during the 11th Five-Year Plan
period. So far, one-fifth of the planned target was completed.
The central government will also allocate special funds to
consolidate gains achieved in the program.
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(CRI September 11, 2007)