China’s Well-Facilitated Farmland distribution dataset

China has less than 10% of the world's arable land but must feed more than 20% of the global population. Both climate change and farmland degradation pose significant challenges to China's food security. In 2009, Chinese government launched a nationwide, well-facilitated farmland (WFF) construction strategy to improve food production. The ultimate goal is to create 80 million hectare (1.2 billion mu) of WFF by 2030. Timely monitoring and generation of a public WFF dataset are critical for assessing China's food production and security. However, such data are not currently available for research community or industrial sector. By compiling and synthesizing 377 reports and documents released by local authorities, this study created WFF dataset for 2020, covering both prefecture and provincial levels in China. Additionally, the provincial 2030 WFF targets and the current completion rates are included. This dataset has wide range of applications in food security, as well as agricultural water and nutrition managements for researchers and policymakers.