Over 16 percent of Chinese soil is polluted

Beijing, April 17 (IANS) About 16.1 percent of soil in China's mainland is polluted, an official report said Thursday.

The report issued jointly by the country's ministry of environmental protection and the ministry of land and resources said about 19.4 percent of farming land is polluted.

The pollution has been caused by many factors over a long period of time. "The main pollution source is human industrial and agricultural activities," the report said.

The general condition of the land is "not optimistic" as the quality of farming land is causing worry, and deserted industrial and mining land suffers serious pollution, Xinhua reported citing the report.

It was based on a survey conducted from April 2005 to December last year on about 630 sq. km of land across the country, except Hong Kong and Macao.