Farmers count many benefits of Yellow River irrigation scheme
Print Edition
FARMERS in Henan are reaping the benefits of irrigation schemes that diverted water from the Yellow River, with viable agricultural land expanded from 96,700 hectares to 906,700 hectares.
鈥淭he rice we grow here is one of the most sought-after varieties in the market,鈥 said Zhu Zhongmin, a farmer from Yuanyang County of central China鈥檚 Henan Province.
鈥淎part from the use of high-quality seeds and fertilizers, the most crucial element of the 鈥榝ormula鈥 that allows each mu (0.067 hectares) of my family鈥檚 paddy field to produce more than 650kg of rice per year is the (nutrient rich) irrigation water sourced from the Yellow River,鈥 he said.
In the past, most attempts to rechannel the middle and lower reaches of the country鈥檚 second-longest waterway had caused massive flooding leading to famine, migration and soil salination.
After the founding of the People鈥檚 Republic of China in 1949, water diversion projects such as the People鈥檚 Victory Canal that aimed to increase grain production were built and won the applause from ordinary farmers like Zhu.
Farmers in Yanjin County, Henan Province, tend to grow their signature wheat by using Yellow River water and their alkali-rich groundwater alternately.
鈥淭he first time to irrigate crops after the spring planting must be done by Yellow River water if we expect the yield to be somewhere between 600-700kg per mu, otherwise, the yield could fall to 300kg,鈥 said Li Shijun, head of the People鈥檚 Victory Canal Management Bureau.
Since being put into use in 1952, the canal has diverted 38 billion cubic meters of water from the Yellow River and helped generate 40 billion yuan (US$5.8 billion) in additional returns.
Over the past four decades, places like the counties of Yuanyang and Yanjin have been transformed from a hostile environment for agricultural production to home to some of the most recognizable brands of farm produce in the country.
Digital control system
Credit also goes to a sophisticated digital control system that improves the efficiency and sustainability of the water diversion operations.
Statistics from the province鈥檚 water resources department show that the areas can save 813 million cubic meters of water per year with the irrigation cycle being reduced by four to six days.
Weishi County is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the network of water pipelines.
After achieving smart control over the irrigation water, farmers are able to choose between Yellow River water and groundwater based on a real-time display of the volumes of water they have in store.
鈥淣ow, pumping water out of a well can be easily done by a simple swipe of an IC card,鈥 said Shi Changsuo, a local farmer. 鈥淭his is different from the past when a whole family was needed when it comes to irrigating crops.鈥
Salination has abated and the grain output has increased by nearly four times over, according to the Yellow River Conservancy Commission.
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