Water rights trading gives farmers a taste of sweet success

“The water saved can be sold for money, and after deducting the water fee there is still a surplus. Water rights reform is truly good.” At the scene of cashing out the annual water rights trading fees at the Water Rights Trading Center in Manas County, Xinjiang, farmer Ma Guijie, who received his trading fee, spoke from the bottom of his heart.

Ma Guijie is a villager of Taxi River Sixth Village in Baojiadian Town, Manas County. His household has 10.32 mu of cultivated land, with an approved water rights volume of 4180 cubic meters. The actual annual water use was 3179 cubic meters, saving and selling 1001 cubic meters of water. Calculated at the water price of 0.077 yuan per cubic meter approved by the water management unit, the water fee payable is 244.78 yuan, and the net income from water rights trading is 300.60 yuan. After offsetting the water fee with the net water rights income, there is still a surplus of 55.82 yuan.

At the beginning of this year, Xinjiang launched a pilot comprehensive reform of water rights and water prices in Changji Prefecture and other places. Changji Prefecture comprehensively advanced the allocation of initial agricultural water rights, with each county and city designating 1 township or village and irrigation district as a pilot project area. Among them, Manas County designated 5 project areas in the Taxi River Irrigation District for simultaneous piloting: Taxi River Sixth Village and Dongmaidi Village in Baojiadian Town, and Shangzhuangzi Village, Sangezhuangzi Village, and Leyuan Cooperative in Letuyi Town, with a total pilot area of 6496.4 mu. The 5 project areas, based on the area of second-round land contracting, have completed the registration and confirmation of initial water rights and issued water rights certificates to farmers. Farmers can trade saved water volume through the Water Rights Trading Center.

In order to ensure the standardization and sustainability of water rights trading, Manas County specially established a Water Rights Reform Leading Group and adopted various methods to safeguard farmers' vital interests.

Determining initial water rights. Manas County issued the "Measures for the Management of Initial Water Rights Allocation." The county Water Rights Reform Leading Group uniformly decomposed the county's total water resources control indicators to townships and villages, organized relevant county departments including land, agriculture, and water conservancy to verify and register second-round contracted land, and after farmer signature confirmation, determined the baseline data. Manas County took second-round contracted land, herdsmen settlement and livestock-raising forage land, resettlement land, and village collective reserved flexible land not exceeding 10% as the objects of initial water rights confirmation. Based on the comprehensive agricultural irrigation quota issued by the county people's government, basin management units allocated water rights to farmers' water user associations, which then refined water rights down to farmers, and the competent water administrative department issued water rights certificates.

Establishing a water market. Manas County improved the water rights trading system, built a water rights trading platform, and established the Taxi River Basin Water Rights Trading Center. The Taxi River Basin Management Office established a “water bank” through the Shimenzi Reservoir and set up an information-based water rights trading management platform. At the same time, it standardized the water rights trading process. Relying on grassroots organizations and the leadership of capable individuals, with farmers as the main body to submit written applications, the association negotiates with the trading center on their behalf, the trading center repurchases and converts the water volume, and supplies water to enterprises through the “water bank” and the water transmission and distribution system.

Establishing an incentive mechanism for water rights transfer. First, with fields, headworks, and water use groups as water-saving units, the Water Rights Trading Center as the carrier, and associations as the main body, it completes water rights conversion reservations, review, trading, and income distribution. Income from trading surplus water within the agricultural irrigation quota belongs to the party transferring the water volume. Second, it establishes an open, fair, transparent, and efficient water market operating mechanism, adheres to market-oriented operation, explores the establishment of a water bank storage and regulated water rights paid transfer mechanism, and stipulates that the water rights trading price is 6 times the normal water price, mobilizing farmers' enthusiasm for water conservation. The Taxi River Industrial Park, as the main target of water rights conversion in the project area, relies mainly on the Shimenzi Reservoir for water supply, with a water supply price of 1.5 yuan per cubic meter. Because the park's existing permitted water withdrawal volume cannot meet enterprises' normal water demand, the shortfall must be resolved through agricultural water-saving conversion. Driven by interests, a market-oriented water rights trading chain has gradually formed: farmers save water, associations take the lead, the trading center repurchases, enterprises buy water, the “water bank” stores and regulates, and water is allocated at appropriate times.

Establishing an income distribution system. The Water Rights Trading Center set the water-saving repurchase price at 6 times the current water price of the water management unit, that is, 0.462 yuan per cubic meter. After deducting the water management unit's water price, 0.385 yuan per cubic meter remains. After deducting a 2% trading fee for the Water Rights Trading Center and a 20% retention by the farmers' water user association, farmers' final net income is 0.3003 yuan per cubic meter.

At present, through water rights trading reform, Manas County has explored and formed a water rights transfer mechanism with clear ownership, defined rights and responsibilities, strict protection, and smooth circulation, turning farmers from mere water users into water rights transferors and making them the main participants and beneficiaries of water market trading. Water rights trading has stimulated farmers' enthusiasm for independent water conservation, transforming “make me save water” into “I want to save water,” making water conservation a conscious economic behavior and establishing a long-term mechanism for sustainable water conservation. At the same time, water rights trading has also opened a channel for water resources to flow from agriculture to industry, realizing the shift of water resource allocation from low efficiency to high efficiency and improving water use efficiency and benefits.