A national agricultural innovation alliance on the comprehensive use of saline soil has been launched by the Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) and other agencies.

The alliance aims to accelerate the sci-tech innovation and comprehensive utilization of saline land and fully explore its potential for agricultural production.

China is severely affected by salinization. In the "No. 1 central document," the first policy statement released by China's central authorities this year, the country outlined support to transform suitable saline land into arable land in an appropriate and orderly manner.

The improvement and use of such land for agricultural purposes once made an outstanding contribution to increasing grain output in China, said Liu Xianwu, CAAS vice president.

At present, the comprehensive utilization and ecological protection of saline land face a complex situation, said Liu, calling on the alliance to lead technological innovation and make overall plans for the high-quality development of modern agriculture on saline land. 

(With input from Xinhua)