From September, 2003 to May, 2004, the Chinese government invested 58 billion yuan (about seven billion US dollars) on national farmland irrigation infrastructure construction, said a senior official with the Ministry of Water Resources.

Zhai Haohui, vice minister of Water Resources, told a national farmland irrigation conference Sunday in Nanchang that the Chinese government is increasing its investment in this area year by year.

According to Zhai, among the total 58 billion yuan of investment, the part from all local governments hit 31 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.8 billion yuan. The local farmers' investment also reached 25 billion yuan.

China's total grain products have dropped for years due to the decreased farmland and planting areas of grains. In addition, the country's weak farmland irrigation infrastructure and low anti-disaster ability in the rural areas also resulted the drop of grain products, said Zhai.

Zhai said the investment will be used for the irrigation projects in the rural areas, helping local governments repair damaged reservoirs and improve the country's irrigation networks.

Zhai said local governments should also find ways to encourage more farmers to participate in the construction of irrigation infrastructure.

With the increased investment, China's farmland irrigation system has been greatly improved. More than 260,000 damaged irrigation reservoirs have been repaired and about 910,000 new reservoirs and ponds have been built, said Zhai.

Source: Xinhua