Spatial Changes and Land Use of Arable Land in China

Abstract

Numerous concerns have been raised in China over the issues of limited arable land resources and food security in China. Especially, the record levels of soil pollution and the conversion of the arable land become the serious threat to the nation’s capacity to produce adequate levels of staple cereal crops for Chinese people. Most of arable land, only 15% of the country, mainly concentrated on the central eastern coast and along the Yangtze and Yellow river valleys which had the highest sediment deposit among the lands in China. An agricultural land in China was classified into four categories including arable land. The survey of spatial distribution and types of land use by in China established by remote sensing data and conventional aerial photography showed main land use features and the spatial pattern and processes of land use change for 15 regions covering China. The agricultural land area in 2015 was increased by 64.9% from that in 1960 while the changes of the arable land area ranged from decrease of 6.6% in 1980 to increase of 20.2% in 1990. Conclusively, we assume that Chinese government may have to figure out the practically adequate arable land area to produce safe food for people in China, bearing in mind of 135 million ha that is a minimum threshold to ensure adequate food production. The spatial change in arable land area in China.