FOR RELEASE WITH STORY CHINA EROSION, 1998-10-01 (photo)

FOR RELEASE WITH STORY BC-CHINA-EROSION - Chinese farmers toss grain into the air to separate kernels from chaff on the top of a hillock in Pianguan county on the Loess Plateau in Shanxi Province. Soil erosion in Shanxi is the most serious in all of China. By the turn of this century, the natural vegetation cover on the Loess Plateau had decreased to 10 percent. After decades of piecemeal attempts at tree-planting, the Chinese government is moving to tackle deforestation systematically with the help of multilateral agencies. Farmers now borrow soft loans from the World Bank to terrace inclines of less than 20 degrees for planting cereal grains while steeper slopes are planted with reinforcing shrubs and trees. Picture taken 17SEP98. ASW/KK/ME