Water-saving irrigation network helps arid regions of northwest China achieve efficient agricultural production

In the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in northwest China, it is summer, and crops planted this year such as vegetables and goji berries are growing vigorously, no longer “crying out for water”.

This is thanks to a technology China has tried to promote in recent years——highly efficient water-saving irrigation, which has now “encompassed” some of the arid, water-scarce land in the northwest, changing local farmers' water use practices and raising production efficiency.

“With 1300 mu of vegetable land, drip irrigation pipes cover it all. Growing tomatoes with drip irrigation, one mu of land can yield 1.05 million kg, using only 70 cubic meters of water; the water drips directly onto the vegetable roots, and fertilizer can be dissolved in the water to ‘supplement nutrients’ for the vegetables.” said Ma Guangjie, a villager of Lanxing Village, Ligang Town, Helan County, Yinchuan City, Ningxia.

The reporter saw in the vegetable field that beneath the green leaves are black water delivery pipes, each fitted with drip irrigation “switches” according to the position of the crop roots; when the water valve is turned on, the water holes on the pipes begin to drip at a regular frequency, with precise irrigation avoiding evaporation.

Ma Guangjie told the reporter that in 2012 he transferred land and began growing tomatoes, eggplants and peppers. At first he used flood irrigation, and watering was often not timely, affecting yields. One mu of land yielded only 8000 kg of tomatoes, yet used 200 cubic meters of water.

Last year, the county water authority began promoting drip irrigation technology, which saves water while ensuring timely irrigation. Ma Guangjie said that in the summer drought, vegetables need water most; with drip irrigation, there is no longer any worry about water shortage, and the tomatoes grow large and well-colored.

“Growing tomatoes without drip irrigation, you earn a lot less money.” Ma Guangjie said that with field irrigation for growing tomatoes, around August the tomatoes flood the market and prices are cheap, at five or six mao per jin. With drip irrigation, the tomatoes can grow until September, when demand exceeds supply and they can sell for more than 2 yuan per jin.

According to the Helan County Water Authority, many farmers growing vegetables in Helan County are now actively requesting drip irrigation equipment. The whole county began promoting drip irrigation and other technologies on a large scale last year, and it now covers 60,000 mu of land.

Highly efficient water-saving irrigation technology has not only been promoted year by year in the northern Ningxia areas where watering is relatively easy, but in the central and southern mountainous areas, which are arid and water-scarce all year round, it has become the guarantee of higher crop yields and higher farmer incomes.

In the arid central Ningxia belt, where people “rely on the heavens for a living”, local farmers have used this technology to begin growing cash crops and gradually escape poverty. Yang Zhengwu, deputy director of the Tongxin County Water Authority in Wuzhong City, said: “Previously, large areas of dry land could only grow corn relying on heavenly rain, but now even goji berries, the most water-hungry crop, can be grown. Normal irrigation for one mu of goji berries requires 600 cubic meters of water, but now drip irrigation requires only 120 cubic meters per mu. After farmers transfer their land to companies or large growers, they work locally, weeding, pruning and harvesting goji berries, earning 80 yuan a day, with a guaranteed income each year.”

In Ningxia and even parts of northwest China, because of year-round drought and little rain, plus the backward water use practice of flood irrigation, local agricultural production efficiency is low and it is difficult for farmers to increase their incomes.

For this reason, in recent years Ningxia has vigorously developed highly efficient water-saving irrigation technology. As of now, the area under highly efficient water-saving irrigation has reached 1.65 million mu, and in project areas implementing highly efficient water-saving irrigation, cash crop yields per mu have increased by more than 30 percent, with income per mu rising by more than 1000 yuan.

The area under highly efficient water-saving irrigation in Xinjiang, Shaanxi and other provinces and regions is also increasing year by year. As of the end of last year, Xinjiang's agricultural highly efficient water-saving irrigation area exceeded 35 million mu, agricultural water use per mu was reduced by more than 100 cubic meters of irrigation water, and facility agriculture increased income by an average of 1500 yuan per mu. At the same time, the area under low-pressure pipe irrigation, sprinkler irrigation, micro-irrigation and other water-saving technologies in Shaanxi Province also reached 4.51 million mu.

It is understood that in the future, some western provinces and regions will continue to promote highly efficient water-saving irrigation technology, exploring the use of facilities and technology to make limited water irrigate more land, further improving the utilization rate of water resources, and enabling efficient agricultural production in arid regions.