The central government supports the launch of a new round of returning farmland to forest and grassland.

According to the "new round of overall plan for returning farmland to forest and grassland" approved by the State Council (hereinafter referred to as the "overall plan"), recently, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance, in conjunction with the State Forestry Administration, the Ministry of Agriculture and other relevant departments, issued a task of 5 million mu of returning farmland to forest and grassland in Shanxi, Hubei and other provinces (autonomous regions and cities) and the Xinjiang production and Construction Corps in 2014. Among them, returning farmland to forest and grassland is 4.83 million mu and 170000 mu respectively.

The "overall Plan" defines a new round of subsidy policy for returning farmland to forest and grassland: 1500 yuan per mu, of which 1200 yuan is provided by the Ministry of Finance through special funds and 300 yuan by the National Development and Reform Commission through investment in the central budget. The subsidy for returning farmland to grass is 800 yuan per mu, of which 680 yuan is provided by the Ministry of Finance through special funds, and 120 yuan is allocated by the National Development and Reform Commission through investment in the central budget. The subsidy funds arranged by the central government for returning farmland to forests are distributed to the people's governments at the provincial level in three times, with 800 yuan per mu in the first year (of which 300 yuan is spent on planting seedlings), 300 yuan in the third year and 400 yuan in the fifth year, and 500 yuan per mu in the first year (of which 120 yuan is recommended for seedlings) and 300 yuan in the third year. At the same time, the "overall plan" also makes it clear that the funds needed for the relevant policy publicity, inspection and acceptance work of the local people's governments at all levels are mainly borne by the provincial finance, and the central finance gives appropriate subsidies.

According to the above subsidy policy, in 2014, the central government allocated a total of 2.4976 billion yuan for a new round of special funds for returning farmland to forests and grasslands, including 2.4796 billion yuan in cash subsidy and 18 million yuan in one-time subsidy for work expenses.