Guiyang and Gui'an strengthen farmland protection for food security

Farmland in Matou village, Wudang district, Guiyang. [Photo/Guizhou Daily]

Guiyang City and Gui'an New Area have continued to prioritize cultivated land protection as a key strategy for safeguarding food security and supporting high-quality development. Through an integrated approach covering the quantity, quality, ecology, spatial layout and supervision of cultivated land, the region has steadily improved its farmland conservation system.

To protect both the quantity and quality of cultivated land, Guiyang and Gui'an have strictly upheld farmland protection targets. The region is currently home to 3.05 million mu (203,333.33 hectares) of cultivated land, exceeding its protection target by 143,900 mu, while permanent basic farmland totals 1.95 million mu, surpassing the target by 8,100 mu.

In 2026, authorities optimized the layout of permanent basic farmland by removing 65,947 mu from protected areas and adding 86,106 mu to them. An additional 5,000 mu of newly created cultivated land has also been added to the official reserve, improving both farmland quality and continuity.

Environmental protection and spatial optimization have progressed in parallel. Measures have been introduced to strengthen the ecological functions of cultivated land, strictly limit the conversion of paddy fields for non-agricultural and non-grain uses, and implement targeted rocky desertification control. At the same time, forest-farmland replacement and cultivated land restoration projects have helped reduce fragmentation and create larger, more contiguous areas of farmland better suited to modern agricultural production.

To strengthen oversight, Guiyang and Gui'an have introduced new farmland protection measures supported by an integrated monitoring system that combines satellite, aerial and ground-based technologies with a digital farmland protection platform. The system enables comprehensive monitoring through both human oversight and technological support.

Looking ahead, the region will continue to improve its regulatory framework while advancing efforts to stabilize cultivated land area, enhance farmland quality, restore ecosystems, optimize land use and strengthen supervision, further reinforcing the foundation of food security.