Xinjiang raises the subsidy standard for high-efficiency and water-saving agriculture

Urumqi, March 12, Xinhua (Reporter Guan Qiaoqiao and Su Chuanyi) in 2010, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous region will promote efficient water-saving agriculture on a larger scale, and the agricultural subsidy standard for new high-efficiency water-saving irrigation will be raised from 100 yuan / mu in 2009 to 200 yuan / mu.

The reporter learned from the Department of Water, Animal Husbandry and Water Conservancy of the Autonomous region that since 2010, the autonomous region's finance has subsidized new high-efficiency and water-saving irrigated agriculture according to the standard of 200 yuan per mu, and strive to increase the area of high-efficiency and water-saving irrigation by more than 3 million mu every year. At present, the first subsidy of 180 million yuan has been allocated.

In Xinjiang, which is located in the arid area of western China, the relative shortage of water resources is one of the important factors restricting the local economic and social development. At present, agricultural irrigation water in Xinjiang accounts for 95 percent of the total water supply, while industrial and domestic water use accounts for only 5 percent. Due to the aging of rural water conservancy facilities and the low level of agricultural water management, in the vast agricultural areas, the utilization rate of water resources is low and the phenomenon of serious waste is prominent.

In recent years, Xinjiang has taken many measures to develop agricultural high-efficiency water-saving irrigation. In 2009, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous region subsidized agricultural high-efficiency water-saving funds of 180 million yuan, and increased the field high-efficiency water-saving construction area of 3.8 million mu. So far, Xinjiang (excluding the Xinjiang production and Construction Corps) has built a total of 10 million mu of high-efficiency water-saving area in the field, making it the largest agricultural water-saving area in China.