Ministry of Water Resources and Ministry of Agriculture jointly increase farmland water conservancy investment

The Ministry of Water Resources and the Ministry of Agriculture recently signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Accelerating the Development of Water Conservancy and Agricultural Development. The two sides decided to strengthen cooperation in the areas of planning and development, project layout, project construction, and policy coordination, and vigorously promote the construction of agricultural infrastructure focusing on water conservancy.

It is reported that during the "12th Five-Year Plan" period, the total investment in water conservancy will reach 1.8 trillion yuan.

In recent years, the state has paid special attention to farmland water conservancy construction. Last year, the Central Document No. 1 and the Central Water Conservancy Work Conference made comprehensive arrangements for the reform and development of water conservancy, emphasizing the need to regard farmland water conservancy as a key task in the construction of rural infrastructure, and as an increase in comprehensive agricultural production capacity. The decisive factors identified a series of major policy initiatives that support farmland water conservancy. The recently concluded Central Economic Work Conference and the Central Rural Work Conference once again set forth clear requirements for doing a good job in the construction of farmland water conservancy infrastructure.

In this context, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Water Resources have cooperated on accelerating the development of water conservancy and agriculture. According to reports, the contents of cooperation between the two sides mainly include the following aspects: First, strengthen the coordination of major plans; second, promote the implementation of major projects; third, promote agricultural water-saving technologies; fourth, strengthen cooperation in flood prevention and drought relief; and fifth, promote technical cooperation and information exchange. Sixth, we will promote the development of water conservancy in the pastoral areas, increase the intensity of construction of irrigation and water conservancy facilities, strengthen the construction of cooperative organizations for farmers' water use, and promote the comprehensive reform of agricultural water prices.

Minister of Water Resources Chen Lei stressed that according to the memorandum of cooperation, the Ministry of Water Resources will actively work with the Ministry of Agriculture to increase investment in farmland water conservancy infrastructure construction; vigorously develop efficient water-saving irrigation and dry-land water-saving agriculture, and expand the scope of subsidies for water-saving and drought-resistant equipment; Major support for grassroots drought relief service teams, flood prevention and rescue teams, and promotion of water conservancy science and technology, and other specialized service teams, vigorously develop cooperative organizations for farmers to use water; increase the intensity of rural water science and technology innovation.

In fact, apart from the attention given by the two ministries and commissions, the state also gives active support in terms of finance. According to arrangements, by 2015, the total investment in water conservancy will reach 1.8 trillion yuan, of which 20% will be used for irrigation and water conservancy projects. The Ministry of Finance also stated that it will further increase investment in farmland water conservancy construction, greatly increase the scale of small-scale farmland water conservancy construction funds, accelerate the construction of small-scale irrigation and water conservancy key counties, and increase fixed-asset investment and comprehensive agricultural development funds for irrigation and water conservancy construction. With regard to the proportion, the reform and upgrading of large and medium-sized irrigation areas and the final canal system will be strengthened.