Improving agricultural water use efficiency in arid and semiarid areas of China

Water shortage in China, particularly in the north and northwest of China, is very serious. The region accounts for half of the total area of China, but has less than 20% of total national available water resources. While the water shortage in this region is severe, irrigation water use efficiency is only about 40%, with a typical agricultural water use efficiency of about 0.46 kg m⁻³. Excessive irrigation in Ningxia and Inner Mongolia has had a significant influence on downstream water users along the Yellow River. It is widely believed that an increase in the agricultural water use efficiency is the key to mitigating water shortage and reducing environmental problems. This paper reviews water-saving agricultural systems and approaches to improve agricultural water use efficiency in the arid and semiarid areas of China. The paper will cover biological mechanisms of water-saving agriculture and water-saving irrigation technologies, including low pressure irrigation, furrow irrigation, plastic mulches, drip irrigation under plastic, rainfall harvesting and terracing. In addition, the paper addresses the compensatory effect of limited irrigation and fertilizer supplementation on water use efficiency and highlights the need to breed new varieties for high water use efficiency. Considerable potential for further improvement in agricultural water use efficiency in the region depends on effective conservation of moisture and efficient use of the limited water.     

基于水足迹的河套灌区多目标种植结构优化调整与评价

针对黄河水量逐年减少和农业面源污染日趋严重等因素导致内蒙古河套灌区农业用水短缺、生态环境不断恶化的问题,本文将水足迹概念（蓝水足迹、绿水足迹、灰水足迹）引入多目标优化模型和多目标决策评价模型,对灌区有限的水资源进行合理配置。以河套灌区为例,本文选取小麦、玉米、葵花、瓜类、番茄5种典型作物,从经济、社会、资源以及生态4个角度对作物的种植结构进行优化,并耦合模糊层次分析和TOPSIS法对多种优化方案（多目标优化方案、单目标优化方案、现状情景方案）进行评估优选。结果表明,在保障粮食作物产量的基本需求下,减少粮食作物小麦、玉米的种植面积,增加经济作物葵花、番茄和瓜类的种植面积,可以达到增加经济收入、保证社会公平性、提高水资源利用效率及减少粮食生产过程中给环境带来负面效应的目的。并且,评价结果表明多目标优化方案兼顾经济、社会、资源和生态多方面,优化结果优于单目标优化结果和现状情景。研究可为河套灌区及类似地区作物种植结构调整提供相应的理论依据和决策支持,助力灌区可持续发展。     

内蒙古牧区节水灌溉试点项目评估分析

牧区节水灌溉试点项目经过10年的建设效果显著,同时也存在着诸多问题。为巩固牧区节水灌溉试点项目的建设成果,促进牧区节水灌溉工程的进一步推广,对在内蒙古先后组织实施的197个牧区节水灌溉试点项目进行评估分析。通过项目运行管理评估、经济评估、影响评估、可持续评估和项目综合评估,系统总结项目建设的成功经验和制约因素,分析存在的关键问题及原因,为确定今后内蒙古牧区节水灌溉工程的建设管理模式、运行机制和发展方向等提供依据。     

河套灌区农业用水信息化发展及对策——以巴彦淖尔市磴口县灌溉示范区为例

提高农业用水信息化发展水平是提高水资源利用效率和效益,实现水资源优化配置的重要途径。以内蒙古巴彦淖尔市磴口县灌溉示范区为例,在分析该地区农业用水信息化发展现状的基础上,探讨了灌区农业用水信息化发展存在的问题,从基础设施建设、基础数据的获取能力、信息传输及网络结构的构建、自动化控制设备布置、信息化运行与管理等方面提出相应的对策与建议,为河套灌区农业用水信息化的发展提供决策依据。     

内蒙河套灌区建立回归水灌溉系统可行性分析

通过详实可靠的资料及多种因素分析 ,对河套灌区建立回归水灌溉系统的可行性进行了论证     

干旱沙区降解膜覆盖的玉米生长与耗水规律

针对干旱沙区水资源短缺、水分利用效率较低、“白色污染”等问题,在内蒙古乌兰布和沙区开展了2 a的可降解地膜膜下滴灌田间试验.试验设置2种类型的地膜覆盖(可降解地膜和普通地膜)与3个灌溉定额(低水、中水和高水)共6个处理,研究了可降解地膜覆盖下不同灌水处理对干旱沙区玉米生长、产量、土壤含水率、耗水量及水分利用效率WUE的影响.结果表明:可降解地膜覆盖下的玉米生长和产量与普通地膜覆盖的差异不具有统计学意义,抽雄期后耗水量较大,而WUE显著降低;可降解地膜覆盖下灌水量对玉米生长、产量、土壤含水率、耗水量及WUE有显著的影响,灌水量增加会促进玉米生长,延缓后期玉米衰老,增加玉米产量,2 a均为高水处理的产量最大,分别为13 614.97,13 726.68 kg/hm²,且与中水处理的差异不具有统计学意义;耗水量随灌水量增加呈上升趋势,而WUE随灌水量增加呈抛物线趋势,2 a中水处理的WUE均为最大,平均分别比高水、低水处理的高2.77%,19.56%.     

宁夏石嘴山市潜水的灌溉水质评价与水资源合理利用

石嘴山市水资源的合理利用包括潜水资源、引黄(河)渠水资源、灌溉期间排水沟水资源以及贺兰山东麓沟谷水资源的合理利用。其中,潜水资源的利用是石嘴山市水资源合埋利用的核心。本文通过大面积的水质评价,给出了可供利用的潜水面积;阐述了不同水资源合埋利用的途径;估算了合埋利用潜水资源和引黄水资源的节水潜力。本文采用的方法和阐述的观点对我国西北及内蒙河套灌区有一定的参考价值。     

On-farm labour allocation and irrigation water use: case studies among smallholder systems in arid regions

On-farm measurements and observations of water flow, water costs and irrigation labour inputs at the individual parcel level were made in case studies of smallholder irrigation systems in sub-Saharan Africa and south-eastern Arabia. The systems, in which the water source supplied either single or multiple users, were analysed to address the fundamental issues of labour allocation for on-farm water management as this has important consequences for the success of such systems. Results show that the costs associated with accessing water influenced labour input, because when they were low the farmers tended to increase the irrigation rate and reduce the amount of time they spent distributing the water within their parcels. Conversely when water costs were high, lower flow rates and more time spent in water distribution were observed, and this resulted in more uniform irrigation and higher irrigation efficiency. Also, opportunities and demands for farmers to use their labour for activities other than irrigation can lead them to modify operational or physical aspects of the system so that they can reduce the time they spend distributing water within the parcels, particularly when the water is relatively cheap. Awareness and better understanding of how farmers may allocate their labour for water management will lead to more effective planning, design and management of smallholder irrigation systems.     

基于县域尺度的中国农业水资源利用效率评价

基于县域尺度,选取降水产出率、灌溉水产出率、灌溉指数和总水分生产率4个指标,定量评价了中国不同地区(台湾省除外)的农业水资源利用效率,在此基础上,利用GIS空间分析技术,分析了各个指标的空间区域差异。结果表明,全国平均总水分生产率仅为0.61kg/m3,与发达国家的水生产效率相比,还有很大的潜力空间;黄淮海平原区、四川盆地、长江中下游区的农业水资源利用效率较高;在天然降水和灌溉水资源均较丰富的江南区和华南区,除灌溉指数较高外,其他3个指标都处于中等或中等偏低水平。总水分生产率和降水产出率的低值区空间分布基本一致,主要分布在大小兴安岭区、内蒙古高原区、黄土高原北部、横断山区一线;西北区的灌溉水资源浪费严重,亟待提高。     

Institutional management regimes for pricing of irrigation water: the French model — lessons for India

In France, the River Basin Committees and Water Agencies are in-charge of managing water resources. However, many surface irrigation networks were initiated and operated by the Regional Companies and farmer syndicates exclusively for agricultural development in the southwest of the country. These are water institutions playing an active role in water management with an objective of cost recovery in order to improve the quality of irrigation services to the users. The implementation of various innovative institutional management approaches by these agencies have yielded a modest degree of success in addressing the crucial problems of the irrigation sector in terms of pricing water, cost recovery, financial viability and overall sustainability of the surface irrigation system. This study attempts to examine the relevance of the institutional management approaches of France to the Indian context. The institutional framework for setting the price of irrigation water is through negotiation between the management and the user representatives. The important lessons drawn based on the experiences of the French model include the granting of financial autonomy to the water institutions in order to recover operational and maintenance costs, participatory approaches of decentralised management, user involvement in the decision-making process, devolution of small-scale irrigation networks to the users for management and the promotion of effective and viable user associations with access to technical information relating to the use of irrigation technologies.     

Can irrigation be sustainable?

Globally, about 10 Mha of agricultural land is lost annually due to salinisation, of which about 1.5 Mha is in irrigated areas. While some climate and management aspects are common to semi-arid regions, the detailed mechanisms and options to secure ecological sustainability and economic viability may vary considerably from case to case. This paper applies a whole of system-water balance to compare irrigation in three semi-arid regions suffering from similar sustainability issues: Rechna Doab (RD), Pakistan; the Liuyuankou irrigation system (LIS), China; and Murrumbidgee irrigation area (MIA), Australia. Soil salinity, lack of adequate water resources and groundwater management are major issues in these areas. The MIA and LIS irrigation systems also suffer from soil salinity and low water-use efficiency issues. These similarities occur in spite of very different climatic and underlying hydrogeological conditions. The key data used to compare these different regions are climate and soils, available water resources and their use, as well as components of the water balance. In addition, the history of water resource development in these areas is examined to understand how salinity problems emerge in semi-arid regions and the consequences for production. Based on the efficiency parameters and the definitions of sustainability, approaches are explored to solve common environmental problems while maintaining economic viability and environmental sustainability for irrigation systems.     

手持GPS定位仪在喷灌圈规划中的应用

GPS技术在农业生产实践中得到广泛应用。内蒙古赤峰市阿鲁科尔沁旗绍根镇爱民温都嘎查“200 hm2优质紫花苜蓿种植项目”,使用圆形喷灌机灌溉工程规划设计取得了成功。实践证明,GPS应用于喷灌圈规划中,可以精准确定喷灌机的位置,使土地利用最大化,减少耕地浪费。      

内蒙准格尔旗雨水集蓄利用工程投资效益分析

为了解目前集雨节灌工程投资、效益状况以及发展过程中存在的主要问题,对内蒙准格尔地区集雨工程进行了经济投入产出分析,研究结果表明,旱井和水窖年收集1 m3水的成本分别为0.95元和1.56元,窖水滴灌玉米、蔬菜、果树的单方水平均产投比为6.14、12.52、9.10,经济效益十分可观。在内蒙准格尔地区,由于集雨工程及配套设施投资较大,农民收入水平较低。近期内农民不可能成为集雨工程投资的主体。在此基础上,作者提出将雨水集蓄利用工程纳入国家农村基本建设投资范畴,多方投入,加快工程发展速度,降低技术设备成本,完善集雨管理制度和办法等建议。     

Access to groundwater and agricultural production in China

Although the ways in which farmers access irrigation services in areas that rely on groundwater have changed over the past decade, little empirical work has measured the impact of these changes. This is surprising given the potential effects—both positive and negative. In this paper we explore the impacts of the emergence of the markets for irrigation services from groundwater on agricultural production - including crop water use and crop yields - and farmer income in northern China. From a survey of 35 randomly sampled villages and 338 households in two provinces (Hebei and Henan Provinces) in 2001 and 2004, we show that when farmers access water from markets for irrigation services, they significantly reduce water use, compared with farmers who have their own tubewells. However, there is no significant difference between the volume of water used by farmers who access irrigation services provided by the village, and the volume used by farmers who access water from markets for irrigation services. Importantly, although water use decreases, we find little effect on either agricultural productivity (yields) or income.     

Irrigation evaluation based on performance analysis and water accounting at the Bear River Irrigation Project (U.S.A.)

The purpose of this work is to contribute to the development of a combined approach to evaluate irrigated areas based on: (1) irrigation performance analysis intended to assess the productive impacts of irrigation practices and infrastructures, and (2) water accounting focused on the hydrological impacts of water use. Ador-Simulation, a combined model that simulates irrigation, water delivery, and crop growth and production was applied in a surface irrigated area (1213 ha) located in the Bear River Irrigation Project, Utah, U.S.A.. A soil survey, a campaign of on-farm irrigation evaluations and an analysis of the database from the Bear River Canal Company and other resources were performed in order to obtain the data required to simulate the water flows of the study area in 2008. Net land productivity (581 US$ ha⁻¹) was 20% lower than the potential value, whereas on-farm irrigation efficiency (IE) averaged only 60%. According to the water accounting, water use amounted to 14.24 Mm³, 86% of which was consumed through evapotranspiration or otherwise non-recoverable. Gross water productivity over depleted water reached 0.132 US$ m⁻³. In addition, two strategies for increasing farm productivity were analyzed. These strategies intended to improve water management and infrastructures raised on-farm IE to 90% reducing the gap between current and potential productivities by about 50%. Water diverted to the project was reduced by 2.64 Mm³. An analysis based on IE could lead to think that this volume would be saved. However, the water accounting showed that actually only 0.91 Mm³ would be available for alternative uses. These results provide insights to support the decision-making processes of farmers, water user associations, river basin authorities and policy makers. Water accounting overcomes the limitations and hydrological misunderstandings of traditional analysis based on irrigation efficiency to assess irrigated areas in the context of water scarcity and competitive agricultural markets.     

山丘区高效节水灌溉工程设计要点

该文根据山丘区地形地貌、气候特征和水资源条件等情况,对山丘高效节水灌溉设计中应该注意的问题进行汇总,主要从水源工程设计、灌溉制度拟定、灌水方式选择、管材选择和管网布置等方面进行分析,提出了山丘区高效节水灌溉工程的设计要点,可供相关的工程设计进行参考。      

Water control and the maintenance imperative: Evidence from Nepal

Six farmer-managed irrigation systems were examined and compared to three government-managed irrigation systems. Results from these studies indicate that the organizational capacity of farmers' water users' associations to directly manage and maintain the irrigation systems was the most important factor in achieving water control and productive irrigation systems. We have referred to this factor as the ‘maintenance imperative’. The effective water users' associations demonstrated that they were able to: (1) mobilize significant amounts of labor and money on a continuing basis for maintenance and operation, (2) resolve local conflicts over water, (3) allocate and distribute water equitably, (4) enforce rules, and (5) coordinate cropping patterns and planting dates to optimize the efficient use of available water. The farmer-managed systems displayed a large degree of farmer cooperation and satisfaction, even though most of the systems had substantial operation, maintenance, and cost problems.     

灌溉农田高效用水研究进展与发展趋势

为提高水资源的利用率,发展高效用水农业首先要发展节水灌溉,在农业水利灌溉领域,通过分析国际先进的节水模式及水资源高效利用技术,评价我国灌溉农业高效用水工程进展。针对我国人口与水、土地等资源的矛盾问题,论述我国水资源现状和农业用水状况以及我国节水灌溉进展,指出我国农业节水灌溉现状和推广中存在问题。提出了加提高节水意识,健全节水法规,发挥政府职能,提高资金投入,不断加强节水灌溉技术创新以及落实管护责任等改进建议,激发节水灌溉工程长效运行等方式以推进我国灌溉农田高效用水发展进程。     

“三水”联合运用是山丘区农田灌溉的有效途径

在干旱缺水的山丘地区如何充分利用当地径流解决灌溉用水不足是当地农民极为关注的问题。盐亭县林山乡的实践表明：对当地有限的三水资源进行联合运用，在中旱年能满足灌溉需求，大旱年也可大大减轻作物受旱程度，基本上保证农业正常生产，是解决山丘区农田灌溉的有效途径。     

内蒙古河套灌区三湖河灌域井渠双灌试验与探讨

为了缓减黄河水资源日益短缺的局面,提高内蒙古引黄灌区的灌溉水保证率,以乌拉特三湖河灌域为研究对象,从2010年开始开展井渠双灌试验。结果表明:在实际运行中,井渠双灌起到了在灌溉紧张期缓解用水矛盾的作用,改善了地下水水质,但通过两年来的运行,出现了地下水采补不平衡形成漏斗的情况,并由于开采地下水水费没有开征,使用井灌成本低,灌溉方便及时,导致井灌面积不断扩大,引黄灌溉面积逐渐萎缩,地下水得不到有效补充,致使采补失衡,长此下去必将威胁三湖河灌域的可持续发展和生态平衡。