31.   The countryside evolves from miles of rich arable land, smooth as chocolate bars, to colonial tea plantations, to dense tropical jungles.

32.   The hardest work lies ahead for hundreds of millions of Chinese who live in mountainous, desert and arid plateau regions where arable land and rainfall are rare.

33.   The only reason Haas can see for a move so far from water and arable land is defense against enemies.

34.   The tribes, based on extended families and geography, provide for their members by pooling basic and scarce desert resources like water and arable land.

35.   Two percent of the population owns more than two-thirds of all arable land.

36.   Two percent of the population owns two-thirds of the arable land.

37.   Until now, policy-makers have spent ample funds to figure out the reasons for the droughts and the subsequent erosion and loss of arable land.

38.   Where there was arable land, they were trying to raise a few vegetables on a small plot rented from a collective farm or state enterprise.

39.   With limited arable land, the country has relied heavily on pesticides, fertilizers and mechanization to wring every last grain from its farmland.

40.   Plans include efforts to reduce the large loss of arable land to development each year.