A new irrigation method - drip irrigation under plastic sheeting - is being widely used in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, an arid area in northwest China.

Local farmers lay a network of pipelines with a tiny hole every 20 cm in the field, covering the pipelines with plastic sheeting. When turned on, water will run directly to crops from those numerous tiny holes.

Previous use of drip irrigation shows that it raised the unit output of ginned cotton from 40 kg to 100 kg and save 50 percent of water compared with the traditional flood irrigation method, said Zhang Guoxiang, an official with the China Irrigation Technology Development Corporation.

Xinjiang has 20 million hectares of farmland, most of which are arid or semi-arid. The annual rainfall in the region averages 147 millimeter while annual evaporation ranges between 1,600 mm and 2, 000 mm.

This new irrigation method will help change the structure of cultivation and improve crop quality, Zhang said.