Worsening stone desertification is threatening the survival of about 450,000 farmers in southwest China's Guizhou Province, and they are in dire need of being relocated, local authorities have said.

Desertification occurs when arable or habitable land is transformed into desert. Guizhou is affected by a form of desertification called stone desertification in which soil is eroded, water levels drop, the land begins to become barren and underlying stones are exposed.

Guizhou is the Chinese province suffers most from stone desertification. About one fifth of the province's land area -- 35,920 square kilometers -- is afflicted by karst rocky desertification, according to the Guizhou Provincial Department of Water Resources.

As the soil erodes, survival for local farmers becomes increasingly precarious. About 450,000 local residents are facing a drastic deterioration of their living conditions, said officials from the department. But he did not provide further details of any relocation plan.

Soil erosion affects up to 73,200 square kilometers of the land Guizhou -- 41 percent of its total land area -- but around 25,000 square kilometers have been brought under control along the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and Pearl River in the past few years, he said.

At the current rate at which damaged areas are being recovered -- 1,000 square kilometers per year -- Guizhou would need at least 70 years to bring soil erosion under control, he added.

(Xinhua News Agency January 15, 2007)