Ministry of Water Resources: Nearly half of China's cultivated land is still "Wangtian"

The reporter learned from the national rural water conservancy work conference held in Bengbu, Anhui Province on the 27th 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 "looking at the sky." there is a lack of basic irrigation conditions.

Li Guoying, vice minister of water resources, said that 2014 is the opening year for implementing the spirit of the third Plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee and deepening water conservancy reform, and is also a key year for accomplishing the task of rural water conservancy reform and development during the 12th five-year Plan. The task of doing a good job in the reform and development of rural water conservancy throughout the year is arduous and of great significance.

Over the past year or so, rural water conservancy work across the country has developed rapidly, but Li Guoying also pointed out: "the foundation for supporting food security is still not solid."

He said that more than 10% of the country's low-lying areas are prone to waterlogging once every three years, and the treatment of some waterlogged areas is not up to standard. The area of land harvested by drought and waterlogging accounts for only about 30% of the cultivated land.

Most of the existing irrigation and drainage facilities 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-scale farmland and water conservancy projects are not matched, and the equipment integrity rate of large-scale irrigation and drainage pumping stations is less than 60%.

"weak irrigation and drainage facilities are still the biggest injury affecting the stable development of agriculture and national food security." Li Guoying said.

In addition, he also pointed out that the current outstanding problems in rural water conservancy work are that the system system of rural water conservancy development is not perfect, the reform of system and mechanism lags behind the development of the situation, and the three-tier water conservancy service system is still not perfect.