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Rice Cropped to Save Water in Beijing
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2002-01-10
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| Beijing is reducing its rice-growing areas in a bid to save water resources. Officials with the Beijing Water Resources Bureau confirmed Tuesday that rice growing will fade out from the capital's agricultural sector by the end of 2007, ahead of the 2008 Summer Olympics, according to Wednesday's China Daily. Beijing will transform more than 4,600 hectares of rice-growing areas this year with anti-drought plants, said Yang Jinghuai, vice-director of the bureau's Suburb Department. The city has terminated more than 10,000 hectares of rice-growing areas from its previous 23,300 hectares in suburban rural areas in the past two years. Facing a severe water shortage with economic development and continuous drought, Beijing consumes 4 billion cubic meters water annually, with over 50 percent of it used in agriculture, according to official statistics. Water used in agriculture is expected to decline to 25 percent of the city's total water consumption in the future, and rice, the high water consumption crop, should be withdrawn from the city's agriculture sector within years, Jia Qinglin, Party secretary of Beijing, said late last year. The city's Haidian District invested 200 million yuan (24 million U.S. dollars) last year to turn its 1,666 hectares of rice fields into forest and nursery stock. Western suburban areas of Beijing used to be rice production base for the city, and rice growing areas were enlarged in 1960s. However, grain production is no longer advantageous in Beijing, said Zheng Jiaxi, a professor in the Agricultural Economy Department of Wuhan-based Zhongnan Finance and Economy University. North China has continuously suffered from droughts in recent years, which made the Ministry of Water Resources intensify its water-saving efforts to prevent wastage, particularly irrigation water. |
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