China to monitor land use via satellite

China will resort to satellite remote sensing technologies to monitor land use and protect the legitimate rights of farmers, an official said on Friday.

Ministry of Land and Resources will start using the high-tech devices this year to detect and prevent illegal use of land, particularly arable land, said vice minister Yun Xiaosu at a press conference during the annual parliamentary session.

Yun said his ministry will draw up a satellite map covering the country's 9.6 million square kilometers of territory, to protect arable land from illicit expropriation and safeguard the legitimate land rights of farmers.

"The Chinese government has taken legal and policy measures to protect the farmers' rights in land use, particularly land appropriated for farming and building homes," Yun said in response to a question.

Meanwhile, the central and local governments have also worked to protect the rights of farmers whose land were expropriated, he said without elaborating.

China seized 31,700 land use violation cases in a 100-day campaign starting in September, involving more than 200,000 hectares of land.

The campaign aimed at cracking down on local governments that illegally transferred household land to property developers, and punishing officials who failed to seek permission from higher authorities for land use and those who flouted decrees to expand the size of development zones.