Some 67 percent of the area in northwestern Shaanxi Province that had been ravaged by soil erosion has been transformed over the past five years, according to the provincial department in charge of water resources.

Shaanxi, covering an area of 205,600 square kilometers, possesses 137,500 square kilometers of land with eroded or decertified soil, which has heavily compromised agricultural production and rural economic development. But after new measures were undertaken by the provincial government, 1.45 million hectares of farmland, 3.99 million hectares of forest and 880,000 hectares of grassland were created.

(Xinhua News Agency November 16, 2004)