According to the "Notice on Strengthening Control and Implementing the Strictest Farmland Protection System" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice") issued by the Ministry of Land and Resources, except for residential land and public infrastructure land, in principle, no new construction land will be allocated in the central urban areas of megacities with a population of over 5 million. The national target for per capita urban construction land will be strictly controlled within 100 square meters.

The "Notice" requires all localities to take farmland protection as the primary task of land management, comprehensively strengthen planning coordination, use control, land conservation, and law enforcement supervision, accelerate the establishment of joint responsibility, economic incentive, and social supervision mechanisms, strictly observe the red line of 1.8 billion mu of farmland, and ensure that the actual area of farmland remains basically stable and its quality does not decline. Increase the control of land planning and plans. Strictly approve and use land in accordance with the overall land use plan, and it is strictly forbidden to establish new cities, new districts, and various development zones (parks) that break through the overall land use plan; establish an evaluation and modification system for the overall land use plan, and prohibit arbitrary modification of the plan; rationally adjust the overall land use plan, and strictly delineate urban development boundaries, permanent basic farmland, and ecological protection red lines.

According to Dong Zuoji, Director of the Planning Department of the Ministry of Land and Resources, in accordance with the requirements of the "Notice", the scale of urban construction land will be strictly controlled. If expansion is truly necessary, a series, cluster, or satellite city layout should be adopted to avoid high-quality farmland; gradually reduce the planned indicators for new construction land, focus on controlling the scale of construction land in the eastern region, especially the three major urban agglomerations of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the "Yangtze River Delta", and the "Pearl River Delta", and correspondingly reduce the indicators for occupying farmland in areas with insufficient reserve resources for farmland.

The "Notice" proposes to strengthen the balance of quantity and quality of farmland occupation and compensation, strictly implement the regulations of determining occupation by compensation and occupying after compensation, and guide construction to not occupy or occupy less farmland. In this regard, Dong Zuoji stated that provincial land and resources departments should, in conjunction with relevant departments, strictly review and check the balance of occupation and compensation of farmland for construction, and resolutely correct the problem of occupying superior farmland and compensating with inferior farmland; fully implement the system of stripping and reusing the cultivated layer. The cultivated layer of farmland occupied by construction, especially basic farmland, should be stripped and used for the quality construction of supplementary farmland. If it exceeds a reasonable transport distance and is not suitable for direct use in supplementary farmland, it should be used for the improvement of existing farmland.

The Ministry of Land and Resources requires all localities to strictly delineate and permanently protect basic farmland. All localities should, based on the legally approved overall land use plan and on the basis of existing work, start from the periphery of central urban areas of cities with a population of over 5 million, from large to small, from near to far, accelerate the delineation of basic farmland nationwide, and ensure that it is implemented with specific households and mapped into the database. Once basic farmland is delineated, it shall be strictly managed and permanently protected, and no unit or individual may occupy or change its use without authorization.