BEIJING Eddie Goldman Bears Jersey , July 22 (Xinhua) -- China's total farmland area dropped slightly in 2016, while the amount of construction land went up, official data showed.
At the end of 2016, China had a total of 2.024 billion mu (about 1.349 million hectares) of farmland, down 1.153 million mu from the 2015 level Kevin White Bears Jersey , according to a survey by the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR).
Meanwhile, an extra 8.09 million mu of land was used for construction land in 2016, up 4.4 percent year on year, a large part of which has been set aside for infrastructure construction, said the ministry.
In 2016 Cody Whitehair Bears Jersey , the amount of new land opened up for highway and railway construction rose 30.7 percent and 102.8 percent from a year ago, respectively, the MLR said.
China must retain at least 1.865 billion mu of farmland in 2020, under a new target set by the MLR in 2016, which is above a government red line of 1.8 billion mu.
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