China may have problem feeding its 1.3-billion population in the future if the current trend of farmland loss can not be effectively curbed, an official has warned.

"From 1996 to 2004, China's arable land dwindled from 1.951 billion mu (130 million hectares) to 1.837 billion mu (122 million hectares), with an annual average decrease of 14.25 million mu (950,000 hectares)," said Fan Xiaojian, vice minister of agriculture, on the sidelines of the ongoing annual full session of the 10th National People's Congress (NPC), the Chinese legislature.

In the remaining 1.837 billion mu of arable land, only some 1.56 billion to 1.6 billion mu (104 million to 106 million hectares) is used for grain production, Fan added.

"With the current area of farmland, it is a fairly difficult mission to guarantee the country's safe grain supply," conceded the vice minister.

However, he pointed out that last year the central government imposed much stricter restrictions on the acquisition of farmland for construction purposes, and the arable land loss for 2005 was sharply reduced to 5.4 million mu (360,000 hectares).

"If this good momentum can be maintained in the next five years, we can foresee a comparatively optimistic future," said Fan.

In his cabinet work report delivered at the opening of the current NPC session, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said his government would continue to practice the "strictest possible" land management system for farmland protection.

China recorded an overall grain output of 484 million tons and is expecting to stabilize its annual grain production at around 500 million tons.

(Xinhua News Agency March 9, 2006)