The Paper.cn:

Large - and medium-sized irrigation areas play a crucial role in ensuring national food security. What progress has the MWR made in the construction and renovation of these irrigation areas ? Thank you.

Chen Min:

I would like to invite Mr. Chen Mingzhong to answer this question.

Chen Mingzhong:

Thank you for your question and concern. Grain production, with farmland as the fundamental element, is supported by water conservancy systems. As just mentioned by the journalist, large- and medium-sized irrigation areas play a crucial role in ensuring national food security. The MWR attaches great importance to the construction and transformation of large- and medium-sized irrigation areas and continues to strengthen and expand water conservancy infrastructure to support food security. This is evident in the following aspects:

First, we are continuously improving irrigation and drainage systems and effectively increasing irrigated areas. We have been promoting the development and renovation of irrigated zones for two to three decades. By the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), 200 billion yuan from central budget will have been allocated to modernize and upgrade more than 2,500 large- and medium-sized irrigation areas, further enhancing the irrigation and drainage system. The size of our irrigated farmland has increased by more than 87 million mu (5.8 million hectares) compared with 10 years ago, equivalent to eight Dujiangyan irrigation areas. The total irrigated farmland area has reached 1.055 billion mu, producing 77% of China's grain and more than 90% of its cash crops.

Second, we are vigorously promoting agricultural water-saving irrigation and continuously enhancing agricultural water use efficiency. In China, agriculture accounts for 62% of total water consumption, making it the sector with the greatest potential for water conservation. The MWR insists on prioritizing water conservation, planning land use based on water resource availability, strengthening the permit system for water withdrawal, strictly managing total water usage and quotas, and vigorously upgrading water-saving facilities in irrigation areas. We are promoting water conservation through engineering improvements and better management practices. By the end of 2023, the effective utilization coefficient of farmland irrigation water in China had reached 0.576. This represents an annual water-saving capacity increase of approximately 30 billion cubic meters compared with 10 years ago.

Third, we are improving management efficiency through reform and technology. We are focusing on comprehensive reform of agricultural water pricing as a key strategy. Through this, we are innovating investment and financing systems in irrigation areas and promoting the modernization of these areas. The National Development and Reform Commission, together with the MWR and several other departments, have jointly promoted the comprehensive reform of the pricing for water used in agriculture. At present, the reform covers more than 900 million mu of irrigated farmland. The MWR has made significant progress through these reforms in achieving modern management of irrigation areas. Last year, we launched 21 pilot projects, and this year, we've initiated a second batch of pilot projects. We've implemented a two-pronged funding approach to provide tailored policy support for various irrigation areas which feature surface irrigation, high-lift irrigation from the Yellow River or groundwater irrigation, as well as for areas growing grain or cash crops. In addition to central funds, we widely attracted social capital, some bonds, and bank loans to invest in the modernization of irrigation areas. These 21 pilot projects attracted 7.2 billion yuan of investment last year, of which financial and social capital accounted for 80%. With sufficient funding, the development of irrigation areas was promoted in accordance with the standards of modernization. At the same time, we've selected 49 irrigation areas to pioneer the implementation of digital twin technology. Through the development of digital twin pilot projects, irrigation has become more precise and efficient, significantly improving the level of intelligent management. As a result, this year's spring irrigation water supply cycle has been significantly shortened, and overall irrigation efficiency has increased by more than 10%.

Moving forward, we plan to develop and upgrade several water-saving and ecologically friendly irrigation zones, providing strong water conservancy support to ensure national food security.

Thank you.