BEIJING, Dec. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- China will set up a national land supervisory system and designate a superintendent general to ensure rational use of the country's land.

"The central government will also send supervisors to localities around the country to supervise land development activities," said Li Yuan, vice-minister of Land and Resources, ata national conference on land and resources here Thursday.

He said the move will mark another major step taken to implement the October decision by the State Council on further tightening land management in the country. He did not give details.

In recent years, the acreage of China's farmland has shrunk quickly due to overzealous industrial development and the speedingup of urbanization, resulting in sharp decline of grain output andincreasing complaints from farmers who blamed the local governments for taking away their land without adequate compensation.

To reverse the trend of farmland shrinkage, last year the central government launched a campaign to rectify the land market,and a series of harsher measures have been taken this year, which have effectively check the random use of power by local officials.

Currently, the Chinese government is seeking to establish a long-term land control mechanism to prevent reoccurrence of over-heated economic development at the cost of farmland.