Approach to Determination and Allocation of Prime Farmland in Provincial Land Use Planning

The purpose of the study is to put forward a scientific and reasonable method to determinate the area of prime farmland and its allocation,and thus to provide a scientific basis for land use planning.Methods of semi-quantitative and multi-factor analysis were employed.The results indicate that prime farmland area for preservation is 2459198.61 hm2 and the preservation rate is 86% taking into account such factors as present quantity of cultivated land,land supply of prime farmland,and the amount of prime farmland allocated by the land use plan at upper level.Prime farmland is allocated to cities and regions in the province considering population,area of cultivated land and reserve,grain production,and areas of cultivated land converted into construction used.The method based on the multi-factors and semi-quantitative analysis can be well suited because it takes the merits of both objective analysis and the subjective judgment,and will provide scientific basis for protection of cultivated land and prime farmland.