Promote efficient utilization of agricultural water resources

The efficiency of agricultural water use in China is very low, resulting in a lot of water resources being wasted. In response to this problem, the Central Committee of the China Democratic Construction Association submitted a proposal to the two sessions this year to vigorously promote the efficient use of agricultural water resources in arid and semi-arid areas.

According to the proposal, China's agricultural water consumption accounts for about 62 percent of the total water consumption each year, and the proportion is even higher in arid and semi-arid areas. When the effective utilization coefficient of farmland irrigation is increased by 0.1, more than 30 billion cubic water can be saved, and the water-saving potential is huge, which is of great and far-reaching significance for alleviating the contradiction between supply and demand of water resources, developing eco-friendly agriculture and ensuring national food security.

According to a reporter from Futures Daily, 4/5 of China's water resources are in the south, but half of the population and 2/3 of farmland are in the north. The problem of water shortage in some areas is very serious, and some areas have even reduced the planting area of winter wheat in order to save water.

The Central Committee of the China Democratic Construction Association believes that there are some difficulties and problems in promoting the construction of high-efficiency and water-saving agriculture. First, there is great pressure to consolidate the achievements of high-efficiency and water-saving irrigation. High-efficiency water-saving irrigation project is a typical technology-intensive and capital-intensive project, which is difficult to achieve sustainable development only by local governments and farmers themselves. Second, the capital investment channels are scattered, lack of overall planning and coordination, and the comprehensive benefit is not ideal. Third, it is difficult for major grain producing areas to give consideration to saving water, protecting grain and increasing income. Take Hebei Province, the main wheat producing area, as an example, the main growing period of wheat in this province is in spring, which coincides with the dry period, and wheat production mainly depends on groundwater, which is contrary to the requirement of underground water pressure extraction policy. Fourth, the summary and promotion of the development experience of high-efficiency and water-saving in various places need to be further promoted.

In order to further promote the development of high-efficiency and water-saving irrigation, the China Democratic Construction Central Committee suggested that, first, raise the level of understanding of the efficient utilization of agricultural water resources from the strategic perspective of national sustainable development, and agricultural water use must take the road of high-efficiency and water-saving; second, formulate and issue a national development plan for high-efficiency and water-saving irrigation; third, further increase financial investment; fourth, take measures in line with local conditions to achieve water conservation, grain protection and income increase in major grain producing areas.

In the proposal, the Central Committee of the China Democratic Construction Association also proposed to promote the popularization and application of agricultural efficient water-saving technology innovation and achievements, further summarize and popularize the experience of land circulation and modern agricultural large-scale operation innovation, and further innovate the management mechanism. such as gradually promoting market-oriented reform. Through water rights trading, land transfer and other measures, make full use of the market mechanism to promote the rapid development of efficient and water-saving agriculture. Starting with the division of water rights, using "land rights" to determine the initial water rights of farmers in irrigation areas, and taking the water rights trading center as the platform and farmers' water use associations as the main body, the transaction is carried out in an organized way. Establish and improve a reasonable paid transfer mechanism of water rights, and use price leverage to guide the whole society to establish water-saving consciousness.