Agricultural irrigation in China

Excerpt

As the most populous country in the world, China always faces challenges for food security. The country must feed its 1.3 billion people with less than 10% of the world's arable land (Wu et al. 2010). Over the last 60 years, the population of China has increased from 0.5 to 1.3 billion, the total irrigated area has increased almost monotonically from 15.9 million ha (39.3 million ac) to 61.7 million ha (152.5 million ac), and grain output has increased from 113.2 billion kg (249.6 billion lb) to 571.2 billion kg (1,259.5 billion lb) (figure 1).

Arable land and available water resources are distributed unevenly in China. To realize self-sufficiency in food production, the Chinese have undertaken large-scale programs to increase agricultural production. Efforts include using chemical pesticides and fertilizers, developing new strains of genetically modified crops, and investing in irrigation infrastructure. Among those measures, agricultural irrigation has made the largest contribution to crop yield increase and poverty reduction in rural areas (Huang et al. 2006).

Irrigation stabilizes crop production, improves crop quality, reduces rural poverty, and allows for diversification in farm production. Approximately half of the national cropland is irrigated and produces 75% of the nation's food, 80% of its…