This Law is enacted for the purposes of protecting black soil resources, steadily restoring and improving the basic fertility of black soil, promoting sustainable utilization of resources, maintaining ecological balance, and safeguarding national food security.
Black soil mentioned in the Law means the cultivated land with good characteristics, highly fertile, which contains black or dark black humus topsoil within the relevant areas of Heilongjiang province, Jilin province, Liaoning province and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
The black soil land should be used for the production of grain and oil crops, sugar crops, vegetables and other agricultural products. Black soil land with deep black soil layers and good soil properties should be classified as permanent basic farmland according to the prescribed standards, mainly used for food production, and strictly protected to ensure long-term stability of quantity and quality. The Law further makes provisions, inter alia, for: investigation and monitoring of black soil resources, scientific and technological support, quantitative protection measures, and quality improvement measures, offences and penalties.