Irrigation and water resource management in Quzhou county

We visited various farmers in Quzhou county to study irrigation management. Just close to the experimental station, we stopped a few kilometers to see farmers who were using their water pumps to irrigate various crops. According to Professor Zhang Hongyan, irrigation further away from the main river was more expensive than for those who stayed close to the water source. It cost around 20 RMB to irrigate four times a day. These farmers, as I noticed, practiced different kinds of intercropping. Notably, throughout the journey, I saw tree-cotton, tree-stevia-groundnuts, tree-sunflower, and tree-stevia-sweet potato cropping systems. It was also easy to see a lot of wheat fields and a reasonable area of maize. Most of the wheat had already been harvested, by combine and manually for those with difficult land areas.

Farmers in Quzhou access water from tunnels that have been connected to the Fuyang river. It is on this river that most of them around the experimental station survive. However, in other areas, farmers use deep good irrigation. As a result, the electricity to draw the water from underneath is expensive, hence the cost of production. What I was happy about is that both farmers, far or closer to the water sources, were still exceptionally organized. The level of coordination and understanding by the farmers was very commendable. The other important factor that the teacher explained was the cost of installing boreholes. Not all farmers can afford it and a few of them resort to shallow-well irrigation. The Chinese government had played a role in installing irrigation equipment for its people. It is this move that has made a milestone impact on agriculture productivity in China.

I also had the opportunity to witness the major problems China is facing in its agriculture sector. As I was traveling and observing, I noticed how bad the soil has been degraded and the cracks that were on the surfaces. I also saw farmers struggling with wheat straw when they were planting maize. Furthermore, I realized how difficult it was with the water situation, which was the reason why China has even resorted to constructing man-made rivers. The water in the rivers was also not very clean and potable as I had expected.On a much positive note, I was impressed by the intensive horticulture in and out of the greenhouses. I had the feeling that Chinese farmers were dedicated when it comes to their food production.