The herding ban aims to curb gradual deterioration of the plain's ecosystem and preserve Songhua-nenjiang Plain's role as the country's major commercial grain production base.

This alluvial plain is located on one of the world's three largest black earth belts. Black calcic earth accounts for 60 percent of total soil in the region.

The region was turned from a large tract of wilderness into the country's leading grain production base in the 1990s. In addition to cultivated land, the region is dotted with grassland and wetland.

Desertification and salinization pose a threat to the growth of soybean, wheat, corn, sugar beet and potato, due to excessive herding.

The regulation promulgated by the provincial people's congress specifies 52 rules to regulate land utilization and protection. Enditem