Farmland Water Conservancy Put to the Test in a Year of Severe Drought

Since entering July, a severe drought rarely seen in decades has been spreading across central and northeastern China.

According to reports, 30.1 million mu of crops have been affected in Liaoning, and in some places, hundreds of thousands of mu of farmland have suffered total crop failure in contiguous patches. In Henan, the "granary of the Central Plains," the drought-affected area involves 13 provincially administered cities including Zhengzhou and Pingdingshan, with 32.4453 million mu of crops affected and 2.7932 million mu suffering total crop failure. The drought conditions in both places are the most severe seen in 63 years.

Throughout the long history of agricultural drought resistance, farmland water conservancy facilities have been regarded as a "pressure relief valve" and a "safety valve." This year, what is the state of farmland water conservancy in the severely drought-stricken areas?

A Significant Proportion of Farmland "Relies on the Sky for Harvest," with Severe Damage

"Since I can remember, I've never seen such a dry spell. Before, one mu of corn could yield over 1,000 jin; now at most it yields around 200 jin," said Huang Jin'e, a 70-year-old farmer in Liaozhong County, Shenyang City, Liaoning Province.

"The well ran out of water in July. If it doesn't rain in August, my corn will lose at least 50 percent of its yield," said Gong Wenzhang, village Party secretary of Liushawo Village, Shixiang Township, Changge City, Henan Province. The well he referred to was a mechanized well drilled in the 1970s, with a depth of over 20 meters. It still had water in previous years, but this year it has dried up.

Henan often calls summer drought "choking drought." This is because Henan's autumn grain is mainly corn, which has the greatest water demand during July and August. If watering is not timely during this period, severe cases can lead to total crop failure.

However, rainfall in Henan this summer has been particularly low. According to the Henan Provincial Meteorological Bureau, rainfall from June to July was 114.6 mm, a sharp decrease of nearly 60 percent from the 276.9 mm of the same period over many years, the lowest for the same period since 1951. River runoff has been continuously decreasing, with over 50 percent of medium and small rivers drying up. In addition, this year is Henan's third dry season since 2011, and reservoirs have also shown a "red light."

Since early July this year, Liaoning Province has suffered its most severe meteorological drought in 63 years. In Xinmintun Township, Tiexi District, Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, much of the corn has already withered and yellowed, and peanuts have died over large areas due to the drought. On this vast plain, local farmers' farmland is basically divided into two types: dry fields planted with corn and peanuts, and paddy fields planted with rice.

Liaoning's dry field planting area exceeds 30 million mu, most of which can only rely on the sky for harvest. It is understood that most dry fields have no investment in water conservancy facilities, while paddy fields basically all have water pumps.

Henan Province also has a considerable amount of farmland lacking irrigation conditions that "relies on the sky for harvest." "The province's current total farmland area is approximately 118.8 million mu, of which the effective irrigation area is approximately 76.21 million mu. Over 30 million mu lack irrigation conditions and rely on the sky for harvest, mainly concentrated in the hilly and mountainous areas of western Henan," said Yang Biantong, a special inspector for flood control and drought relief in Henan Province. "Under this year's drought resistance situation, these over 30 million mu will certainly suffer reduced yields or total crop failure. In these places, we must first ensure drinking water for people and livestock."

Unbalanced Allocation of Water Conservancy Facilities and Insufficient Investment in Some Places

While visiting multiple locations in Liaoning, reporters found that some places have uneven distribution of water conservancy facilities and duplicate construction.

In Zhongcun Village, Xinmintun Township, Liaozhong County, Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, the township used national funds to drill nearly ten electric pump wells, but these wells were basically all built around paddy fields.

There are no wells in the dry fields, but in the rice fields, reporters saw two wells just 10 meters apart. A villager told reporters that one of these wells was drilled seven years ago and the other last year, and both wells can produce water.

Why not drill wells for the dry fields? "Inspection and acceptance only care about whether the well can produce water, not where the well is drilled! In dry fields, the groundwater level is deeper, drilling costs are higher, and it is difficult to get water; drilling in paddy fields is safe, and anyway, however many wells produce water, that's how many wells get subsidies," the villager said. When reporters visited the village, they found that some wells that had already been drilled were not equipped with water pumps. "These wells were all drilled last year."

Relevant agricultural experts believe that farmland water conservancy indeed suffers from insufficient construction investment and is hard-pressed to resist major natural disasters, but at the same time, there is also the phenomenon of agricultural water waste. Experts suggest increasing investment in farmland water conservancy funds, attaching importance to the preparation of farmland water conservancy construction plans, standardizing the management of farmland water conservancy construction projects and the use of funds, vigorously promoting water-saving irrigation technology, and strengthening small-scale farmland water conservancy construction.

Reporters also found during their visits that in areas with irrigation conditions, some farmers voluntarily give up irrigation.

"Although due to the severe drought the government does not charge water fees for farmers to irrigate their fields, pumping water from mechanized wells still requires swiping a card and paying electricity fees. Because of low water pressure this year and small flow rates, farmers found that they were paying the same electricity fees but getting much less water, and felt it was not worth it," said Li Huidong, director of the Agricultural Center of Guqiao Township, Changge City, Henan Province. "Young people go out to work and earn more money than farming. When a severe drought hits, some farmers choose to give up irrigation."

Heavy Water Conservancy Debts; Old Wells and Old Canals Can No Longer Keep Up with Changes

"Many mechanized wells drilled in the 1960s and 1970s have dried up, and wells drilled in the 1980s and 1990s must be 'washed' before they can pump water." At the edge of a field in Xiaoying Village, Naodian Township, Baofeng County, Pingdingshan City, Henan Province, Zhao Jinxian was leading several villagers in "washing a well." He operated a device shaped like a large hand, lowering it into the well to "grab" out the silt and garbage.

Baofeng County has over 4,000 mechanized wells, and over 2,200 of them already produce insufficient water. This year the county finance department allocated over 7 million yuan to desilt over 600 mechanized wells and drill 40 new ones.

Not only in well-irrigation areas has the problem of old wells failing to keep up with new changes emerged; in Henan's Yellow River diversion irrigation areas, similar challenges are being faced, with some diversion canals unable to draw water, or diversion flow rates declining.

"Due to the completion and operation of the Xiaolangdi Reservoir, the Yellow River channel has been scoured deeper and cut down, causing the riverbed of the Henan section of the Yellow River to drop by an average of about 2 meters. The diversion water level in front of the Yellow River diversion gates in Henan Province has generally dropped by 1 to 2.5 meters. Some Yellow River diversion gates are even higher than the river surface and can no longer draw water. At present, Wujia and Yangqiao can no longer draw water. The People's Victory Canal has been forced to use mobile pumping stations for emergency water pumping for drought relief. Other irrigation areas have seen their water supply capacity affected by over 60 percent. The situation is severe," said Song Dehai, director of the Henan Provincial Yudong Water Conservancy Project Administration. "The management units of each Yellow River diversion irrigation area are urgently carrying out technical improvements and clearing silt from diversion canals and irrigation channels, improving water diversion conditions as much as possible, and striving to divert more water and irrigate quickly."

"The Yellow River has had less water this year. The discharge flow of the main canal of the Zhaokou Irrigation Area is around 28 cubic meters per second, compared with about 60 cubic meters per second in normal years. This has led to even less flow, or even no water entering, the field ditches, farm canals, and sub-lateral canals. In addition, many farm canals and sub-lateral canals are still earthen canals, or have not had silt and garbage cleared, so the water is lost along the way before it even reaches the fields. These places still need to rely on drilling mechanized wells to extract water for irrigation," said Wu Chuchang, director of the Zhaokou Branch of the Henan Provincial Yudong Water Conservancy Project Administration. "Our branch is responsible for the management and maintenance of the main canal and branch canals. The management and maintenance of the field ditches, farm canals, and sub-lateral canals below are the responsibility of local county and township governments. The hardening and maintenance of the farmland 'last mile' depends crucially on the degree of attention and financial capacity of county and township governments."

It is understood that Henan's Yellow River diversion irrigation areas involve 42 counties (cities and districts) in 13 provincially administered cities including Zhengzhou and Kaifeng, covering a farmland area of 27 million mu and an agricultural population of over 18.3 million. The farmland area and agricultural population account for about one quarter of the province's total.