Promote efficient utilization of agricultural water resources in arid areas

"the problem of water resources has become an urgent problem to be solved in our country. As the agricultural water consumption which accounts for the largest amount of economic and social water consumption in the country, we must take the road of high efficiency and water saving." The efficient utilization of agricultural water resources in arid and semi-arid areas has become the focus of the National "two sessions" of the Central Committee of the people's Republic of China this year.

In its proposal, the Central Committee of the China Democratic Construction Association pointed out that agricultural water consumption in China accounts for about 62 percent of the total economic and social water consumption, and the proportion is even higher in arid and semi-arid areas that account for more than 2 percent of the land area. When the effective utilization coefficient of farmland irrigation is increased by 0.1, more than 30 billion cubic meters of water can be saved, and the water-saving potential is huge, which is of far-reaching significance for alleviating the current contradiction between supply and demand of water resources, developing eco-friendly agriculture and ensuring national food security.

In order to further promote the cause of high-efficiency and water-saving irrigation in China, the Central Committee of the China Democratic Construction Association suggests that governments at all levels should further enhance their understanding of the efficient utilization of agricultural water resources from the strategic perspective of national sustainable development. Organize and compile the National Development Plan for High efficiency and Water Saving Irrigation as soon as possible, decompose and implement the planning tasks to provinces, prefectures and counties, provide a basis for the state to arrange subsidy funds and local integrated use of agriculture-related and water-related funds, ensure the unified construction of agricultural high-efficiency and water-saving construction in accordance with the completed implementation plan, and improve the efficiency of the use of funds. The following specific proposals are made in the proposal:

-- further increase financial input. Establish a long-term mechanism of high-efficiency and water-saving investment in agriculture. A special input subsidy program will be established separately. We will increase investment in supporting facilities for high-efficiency and water-saving agriculture. Through financial subsidies and discount loans, appropriate subsidies should be given to high-efficiency and water-saving agricultural projects to ensure that the supporting funds for high-efficiency water-saving irrigation projects are fully in place.

Take measures in line with local conditions to save water, protect grain and increase income in major grain producing areas. In the allocation of national water resources, considering the actual water shortage in the main grain producing areas, the water intake index of the relevant water sources is appropriately tilted. The state will increase the proportion of investment in large irrigation areas in major grain producing areas and reduce local supporting facilities. We will improve the subsidy standards for various ecological projects, such as afforestation and grassland ecological compensation mechanisms.

-- promoting the innovation of agricultural high-efficiency and water-saving technologies and the popularization and application of their achievements. Such as increasing the research and development of degradable plastic film to solve the problem of plastic film pollution. The degradable plastic film with low price and large-scale application in engineering construction can be produced as soon as possible. At the same time, it is suggested that the state should formulate and issue norms for the recovery and use of plastic film, encourage farmers to use 0.01 mm thick plastic film and recycle it in time through financial subsidies and policy support, and encourage enterprises to safely reuse the recycled plastic film.

-- further innovate the management mechanism and gradually promote market-oriented reform. Highlight the basic attributes of national ownership of water resources, start with the division of water rights, grasp the top-level design of the system, take the area of the second round of land contract as the benchmark data, and determine the initial water rights of farmers in irrigation areas with "land rights". Take the water rights trading center as the platform, take the farmers' water use association as the main body, carry out transactions in an organized manner.