Ningxia?s efforts have made it possible that the river has not dried up in its lower reaches for four consecutive years.

CEN learned this from a seminar on water resources in the Yellow River valley in Beijing.

Since the 1990s, owing to droughts for years on an end, the Ningxia agricultural area which used to be irrigated by water from the Yellow River for more than 2000 years have been faced with threats of water shortage. The region made the economy of water as an important step in its farming production.

More than 3000 government functionaries were sent to more than 400 villages in 122 towns in 11 cities and counties to popularize knowledge about the economy of water for agricultural purposes. Foreign techniques for water economy in growing paddy rice were introduced on a trial basis and popularized by hundreds of agro-technicians at the grassroots.

The regional government tries to guide the consumption of water for agricultural purposes with economic policy options and regulates water-distribution plans. It appropriates every year special funds of 3 million yuan and raises local funds of 6 million yuan for the contractual construction of 2313 irrigation ditches that cover 116,000 hectares of farmland in the area. 345 associations for water economy have been established.

Ningxia readjusts its planting structure and promotes the cultivation of Lucerne, mulberry trees and quality drought-resistant plants for animal feed over 33,000 hectares. There are more than 20,000 farming households engaged in penned animal husbandry and 43,000 hectares of paddy rice fields have been under controlled irrigation. From 1999 to July of 2002, 1.84 billion cubic meters of water less had been drawn from the Yellow River, saving 22 million yuan for water charges.

(www.cenews.com.cn October 16, 2002)