By Matteo Cavallito<\/p>\n
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China<\/strong> is stepping up efforts to protect black soil<\/strong>, the fertile land intended to fulfill a major share of its food demand. “Chinese lawmakers are considering a draft black soil conservation law<\/strong> that would stipulate constant government funding and targeted protection measures,” the government news agency Xinhua wrote<\/a> in recent weeks. The plan’s details have not been disclosed yet. But the motivation behind the measure can be easily perceived.<\/p>\n China’s black soil, roughly the equivalent of Ukraine’s famous chernozem<\/em><\/a>, is a particularly fertile land located largely in the country’s northeastern provinces. Years of exploitation have ensured enviable agricultural yields but, the government admits, “have eroded the soil’s nutrients<\/strong> and its chernozem layer is thinning out, posing a threat to the country’s ecological security and sustainable agricultural development.”<\/p>\n