Agricultural soils are considered to have great potential for carbon sequestration through land-use change. In this paper, we compiled data from the literatures and studied the change in soil organic carbon (SOC) following the Grain-for-Green Programme (GGP, i.e., conversion from farmland to plantation, secondary forests and grasslands) in China. The results showed that SOC stocks accumulated at an average rate of 36·67 g m^-2 y^-1 in the top 20 cm with large variation. The current SOC storage could be estimated using the initial SOC stock and year since land use transformation (Adjusted R² = 0·805, p = 0·000). After land use change, SOC stocks decreased during the initial 4-5 years, followed by an increase after above ground vegetation restoration. Annual average precipitation and initial SOC stocks had a significant effect (p < 0·05) on the rate of change in SOC, while no significant effects were observed between plantation and natural regeneration (p > 0·05). The ongoing Grain-for-Green project might make significant contribution to China's carbon sequestration. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.