Three "sticking neck" problems restrict the development of irrigation and water conservancy in China

The country is agriculture-oriented, and farmers take water as their life. As a large agricultural country, China has 13 major grain producing areas. however, the problem of water conservancy has always been a bottleneck for our country to become a world agricultural power. The reporter investigated and learned that at present, China's irrigation and water conservancy construction is facing three major "sticking neck" problems, such as too many water conservancy debts, difficulties in mobilizing the masses, and lack of maintenance mechanism.

Three "sticking neck" problems restrict the development of irrigation and water conservancy in China

There are more water conservancy debts and heavy tasks of building and repairing old ones.

In recent years, financial investment at all levels in water conservancy construction has been increasing, which is the well-being of the grassroots, but over the past few decades, water conservancy "debts" have been so much that even if the construction funds are multiplied several times, it will be difficult to meet the needs of the masses in a short period of time.

Floods and droughts occur frequently in China, which results in serious damage to crops and great losses to farmers. This phenomenon reflects the weakening of the regulation function of irrigation and water conservancy facilities in China, the serious lag of irrigation and water conservancy construction and the lack of maintenance and management.

As the agricultural proverb goes, "whether there is a harvest or not depends on the water." As recently as July this year, Henan Province, which was supposed to be in the flood season, suffered the lowest rainfall in 53 years. In Pingdingshan, the city with the worst drought in Henan, water has been cut off for as long as three months in some rural areas. "there will be droughts and floods on July 15 and a harvest on August 15." This agricultural proverb, which is particularly convincing to farmers, reflects the important stage of grain production in our country. however, since the beginning of summer, there has been a serious drought in some parts of the country. More than 72 million mu of farmland in 12 provinces and regions, including Shandong, Henan and Inner Mongolia, have been affected by drought.

As far as the current situation of irrigation and water conservancy facilities is concerned, the ditches, ponds, well irrigation and gate stations all over the fields are called the "last kilometer" of water conservancy construction. However, it is this "last kilometer", or obstruction, or run, or through but not smooth, has become a major problem in agricultural production. Some large grain growers complain that the central authorities encourage land transfer and support large grain growers, but the supporting facilities for irrigation and water conservancy can not keep up, and large households do not dare to expand their scale, and water conservancy construction has become a problem of "sticking neck".

Take Hunan as an example, data from the Hunan Provincial Water Resources Department show that at present, the actual water storage capacity of 1.66 million ponds in the province is only 60% of that of the original, only 15% of the small channels of 142000 km have been lined, and less than 3% of more than 50, 000 pumping stations have been renovated. The problem of inadequate maintenance of old facilities Brooks no delay.

The data of the Ministry of Water Resources show that most of the existing irrigation and drainage facilities in China were built in the 1950s and 1970s, and there are many problems, such as low standard, non-matching, aging and disrepair, benefit decline and so on. About 40% of the large irrigation districts, 50% of the small and medium-sized irrigation districts, 50% of the small irrigation and water conservancy projects are not matched, and the equipment integrity rate of large irrigation and drainage pumping stations is less than 60%.

On the one hand, more than 30 years of irrigation and water conservancy has fallen into disrepair, on the other hand, there is a lack of water conservancy facilities, "Wangtian" is widespread, it is difficult to resist natural disasters.

Data from the Ministry of Water Resources show that at present, the effective irrigated area of farmland in the country is 937 million mu, accounting for only 51.5% of the cultivated land, and nearly half of the cultivated land is "Wangtian", lacking basic irrigation conditions.

It is difficult to mobilize the masses and build up a single weak management force.

The construction and maintenance of water conservancy facilities is arduous, showing three characteristics: large quantity, complex situation and wide coverage. In contrast to the active appeal of the masses to speed up water conservancy construction and the continuous increase of water conservancy investment at all levels of finance, the enthusiasm of the masses themselves to participate in water conservancy construction is not enough. In the face of a wide range of water conservancy construction projects, if we can not mobilize the broad masses to participate, but only rely on financial investment, we will face the plight of limited construction strength, slow progress and heavy tasks.

Taking Liaocheng, Shandong Province as an example, Wen Qingjun, a branch secretary of Wenzhuang West Village, Daiwan Town, Linqing City, said that in the past, farming was the "main business" of farmers, and as long as village cadres greeted them and villagers sent out voluntary work, it was easy to renovate farmland ditches. Now many villagers go out to work, you ask him to come back to build water conservancy, not to mention volunteer work, he does not necessarily come back to work if he gives money. The villagers neither work nor pay, and the collective money of individual villages is very tight, so the small water conservancy in the village is abandoned.

Hunan has also encountered the same dilemma on related issues. Li Xubiao, secretary of the village branch of Tianzidi Village in Lingling District, said that he can only organize party members and village cadres to carry out channel desilting every year. "ordinary villagers are not willing to participate, although their fields also benefit, and if they are forcibly organized, they will sue me for misallocation."

To analyze the reasons, one is the lack of institutional basis for labor preparation. The solution of rural problems not only depends on the government, but also depends on the farmers themselves. Before the reform of taxes and fees in rural areas, rural voluntary labor and accumulated labor (referred to as "two workers" for short) played an important role in the construction and maintenance of water conservancy. Once they were free in winter, the masses volunteered to repair water conservancy through grass-roots government organizations, thus maintaining the normal operation of grass-roots water conservancy. However, after the reform of taxes and fees in rural areas, the mechanism of farmers' participation in irrigation and water conservancy construction has not been established, it is difficult for grass-roots cadres to organize farmers to go to work, and rural water conservancy facilities not only lack the support of farmers in new construction, but also become problems in maintenance.

The second is the lack of economic motivation. Many farmers report that the efficiency of growing grain is not high, and they are unwilling to increase their labor input. Instead of building water conservancy projects at leisure in winter, they might as well go out to work. Some farmers have calculated that the annual net income of one mu of double cropping rice is at most 600 or 700 yuan, and they can earn it back after working for a week. Therefore, if grass-roots cadres want to "dispatch workers", they must pay appropriate remuneration, otherwise the peasants will not go to work. According to the current market, the wage is at least 100 yuan per day, the limited government investment is used to buy materials and rent machinery, and most of the village level lacks collective economic income and cannot afford to pay wages. Grass-roots water conservancy construction and maintenance can only fall into the plight of "willing but powerless".

The third is the lack of labor support. The vast majority of young and middle-aged workers in rural areas go out to work, and the government provides start-up funds and technical equipment, and the main body of construction still depends on the masses. nowadays, most of the rural areas are the left-behind elderly and children, so it is difficult to undertake the task of construction.

Lack of maintenance mechanism, "discount" of accelerated benefits due to engineering aging

Compared with the upsurge of water conservancy construction in various places, the later maintenance and management of water conservancy facilities are mostly "not as expected". The lack of perfect maintenance and management mechanism of water conservancy projects has led to the aging and disrepair of a large number of facilities and the decline of benefits, especially the "five small" water conservancy projects have appeared the phenomenon of "occupied, unbuilt and unattended".

The main reason is that the reform of the water pipe system is not fully in place, which is embodied in:

First, small-scale irrigation and water conservancy facilities used to rely mainly on farmers to build and manage themselves, but after the abolition of the "two industries", an effective farmer participation mechanism has not been established, and the main body of construction management is seriously absent.

Second, there is a lack of stable guarantee for management and maintenance funds. Take Hunan Province as an example, before the abolition of the "two workers", Hunan Province invested an average of 350 million man-days a year in the construction and management of small-scale irrigation and water conservancy, which is equivalent to an annual investment of 35 billion yuan based on current wages. After the abolition of taxes and fees in rural areas, it has been difficult to collect water fees for agricultural use. It is understood that in 2012, large irrigation districts in Hunan received 72.94 million yuan in water fees, with an actual collection of 17.49 million yuan, with a water fee collection rate of only 24 percent, while the collection of water charges in medium-sized irrigation districts was even worse.

Third, from the central to the local concept, there are also varying degrees of "reconstruction of light management". It is difficult to effectively implement the daily maintenance funds and personnel funds of the irrigation district project.

Fourth, after the establishment of the Farmers' Water user Association, there is a lack of operating funds, most of which exist in name only, and the lack of daily management of the "last kilometer" of the irrigation area, which leads to the accelerated aging of the project.

A number of water conservancy cadres suggested that it is necessary to make it clear that provincial, municipal, and county finance should make special arrangements for the construction and management of "small-scale agricultural water" in the annual budget; continue to improve the construction of township water conservancy stations and give appropriate support to operation funds every year; appropriate support should be given to farmers' water user associations that have passed the joint acceptance inspection by city and county water conservancy departments and financial departments.