Xinjiang Makes Progress In Water-Saving IrrigationNorthwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has realized water-saving irrigation for one million hectares of farmland, one-fourth of the region's total.As a typical inland dry region, Xinjiang has an acute shortage of water resources and water-efficient irrigation technique plays an important role in local agricultural development. There are 570 seasonal rivers with an annual runoff volume of 88.4 billion cubic meters, said a local agricultural official. The water-saving irrigation technique and equipment will help the region save an abundance of water annually, the official said. In recent years, the region has invested a lot into this sector to build water-saving irrigation facilities. At present, the region's total length of anti-seepage irrigation ditches has increased from 20,000 kilometers in 1990 to 70,000 kilometers. At the same time, technology of drip-irrigation has been adopted on more than 80,000 hectares of cropland. In the next five years, the region will use water-saving irrigation facilities for additional 666,000 hectares of farmland and set up 15 state-level water-saving agricultural zones. |
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