China to spend massively on farmland improvement

 China to spend massively on farmland improvement

BEIJING, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- The government will spend 37.36 billion yuan(about 5.93 billion U.S. dollars) to improve the quality of farmland this year, the Ministry¹ of Finance said Thursday.

The fund, which is a part of the country's comprehensive agricultural development plan, includes 21.92 billion yuan from the central budget and 12.05 billion yuan from local budgets, the ministry said.

The government plans to improve the quality of 15.47 million mu (1.03 million hectares) of medium- and low-yield land and build 13.31 million mu of high-quality farmland by the end of 2012, said the ministry.

The government will also support improvements for 45 water-saving projects in medium-sized irrigation districts, said the ministry.

The projects will add or improve irrigation on 25.82 million mu of land, aiming to increase agricultural production capacity, it said.

1 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。