Hebei Gu'an High-Standard Farmland Construction Achieves Water Saving and Efficiency Gains

“In the past, we used earthen ridges and furrows to irrigate the fields, which wasted water and time. With sprinkler irrigation machines and smart well houses, plus smart electricity cards, now one person can handle the irrigation.” Ning Guojiang, a large-scale grain grower in Xianggongzhuang Village, Lirangdian Township, Gu'an County, Hebei Province, pointed to the self-propelled sprinkler irrigation machine in the field and told the reporter, “Sprinkler irrigation saves two-thirds of water per mu compared with flood irrigation, and it irrigates evenly. A sprinkler irrigation machine can irrigate 6 mu in 4 hours. If done manually, you would have to hire 4 more people, and each person's labor cost alone would be 100 yuan per day.”

Ning Guojiang planted 150 mu of wheat, and the high-standard farmland construction has brought him considerable convenience. Not only did the sprinkler irrigation machine enjoy subsidies from the comprehensive agricultural development project, but the wheat he planted is also a water-saving variety introduced and promoted by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. It only needs 2 irrigations during the growth period, 2 fewer than traditional varieties. After the land was leveled, large-plot cultivation was adopted. The field ridges and ditches that were removed can all be planted with wheat, increasing the sown area by one fen per mu. In the past, wheat yield per mu was less than 800 jin, but now it can reach 1,100 jin.

Gu'an is among the first batch of project counties for national comprehensive agricultural development, undertaking the task of building high-standard farmland that is drought- and flood-resistant and yields high and stable harvests. Taking the project area in Lirangdian Township where Ning Guojiang is located as an example, because there is no external surface water, irrigation water uses shallow groundwater. Previously there were 209 pump wells, with a well depth of about 100 m. Because the pump wells were not deep enough, had insufficient water output, and were unevenly distributed, and most farmland had unreasonable slopes to varying degrees, irrigation was difficult and water resources were seriously wasted. In addition, the low organic matter content of the farmland soil affected local grain output.

Since 2014, the local area has increased its comprehensive agricultural development efforts. By leveling fields, clearing silt from ditches and ponds, building supporting roads, bridges, culverts, gates, and irrigation and drainage facilities, and constructing farmland shelterbelts, the farmland infrastructure has been improved, and land output and water resource utilization have increased. Now, traveling through the project area, one can see rows of neat shelterbelts, high-standard intelligent machine control houses, and straight, wide machine farming roads. In conjunction with comprehensive agricultural development, the local area also organized the promotion of practical technologies such as water-saving and efficient wheat planting and efficient field cultivation models.

Yin Yanjun, deputy director of the Gu'an County Comprehensive Agricultural Development Office, said that building high-standard farmland, strengthening soil improvement and farmland consolidation, and promoting water-saving and efficiency-enhancing technologies can effectively boost grain production capacity. Up to now, the local area has built 20,000 mu of high-standard farmland, supported a number of key agricultural industrialization projects, increased grain production capacity by 45 million jin, and increased farmers' annual income by more than 52 million yuan. After the improvement of low- and medium-yield farmland, many large-scale operators have been attracted to transfer land, and land rent has risen from the original 400 yuan per mu to more than 900 yuan.