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Promoting Sustainable Agriculture in China's Tarim Basin

2000-03-17

[Photo: Chinese desert.]

Farmers in the Tarim Basin, located in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region of northwest China, face difficult circumstances. Most of this region is desert and arid plain — an average rainfall of just 40 millimetres per year makes this Eurasia's driest spot. It's very hot in the summer, above 40 degrees Celsius. And in the winter, what little surface water there is freezes.

Despite the Basin's harsh climate, its farmers produce 80% of Xinjiang's cotton, or one-sixth of China's total. They also produce grains, fruits, silk, and wool. The key to their productivity is the water that starts as snowmelt in the high mountain ranges flanking the basin on three sides. This water runs into the desert, feeding oases and tributaries that flow into the Tarim River, which runs from west to east across the basin for over 1,200 kilometres.

Economic development

Farming has traditionally been centred on the region's oases. But over the last 50 years, water diversion and irrigation initiatives have permitted the expansion of agriculture. And for the year 2000, the regional government has targeted the area for increased cotton production. The Basin's 7.5 million residents — a mix of Han Chinese and Uighur Muslims — also figure prominently in the central government's new campaign to develop western China. Vast oil and gas reserves exist under the desert sands, which China is beginning to exploit. Meanwhile, the old Silk Road oasis towns on the edge of the Taklamakan Desert and the Uighur culture are attracting growing numbers of tourists.

The bad news, however, is that "unchecked land reclamation and unreasonable utilization of water resources are intensifying environmental deterioration and desertification," says Professor Dai Jian, of the Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences (XAAS). Professor Dai is responsible for the overall design of an ongoing study supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), which involves a multidisciplinary research team from the XAAS and Tsinghua University in Beijing.

Environmental degradation

Since 1994, he and his colleagues have shown not only that desert sands are encroaching on farm and pasture land, but that unsustainable water use and inappropriate farming practices have contributed to deforestation, soil alkalinity, and decreasing agricultural productivity in various parts of the basin.

According to the research team, water users in the upper and middle reaches of the Tarim River, "having an eye to the main chance, are actually scooping as much a share as possible of annual run-off and incoming supply." The team also found that a persistent lack of maintenance and facilities over the entire river results in a huge loss of water through seepage and evaporation while it's being transmitted and delivered. "Consequently, the downstream is left with little or nothing for survival."

Unsustainable water prices

One of the main causes of this unsustainable water use was low water prices. In 1997, the basin-wide average price was just 0.006 RMB (about 0.1 Canadian cents) per cubic metre — about one-quarter of the average cost of supply and almost one-tenth of the marginal cost. Water users in the upper reaches of the Tarim River simply had no economic incentive to regulate their use.

Moreover, the artificially low price of water was combined with slack administrative control over the resource and inadequate penalties for its misuse. In other words, there was no effective basin-wide control over water use in the region.

Concrete solutions

With technical help from IDRC, Professor Dai and his colleagues have proposed a number of concrete solutions for adoption by farmers and local governments. To ensure their proposals were realistic, representatives of all major stakeholders in the Tarim Basin were consulted. In particular, the researchers obtained the support of the regional and local governments, and the involvement of resource managers. The team designated villages in representative areas of the Tarim Basin where farmers could participate in the testing of various water use scenarios, conservation techniques, and anti-desertification measures. All of the tested measures were examined both in terms of their economic viability and their cultural suitability.

For example, some farmers' resistance to a rise in water prices had to be addressed. "Some farmers believe it is God that gives the water to them, so it is rational that they use the water for nothing," explains Professor Yu Suhua of Tsinghua University. Most farmers, however, supported a price rise as long as it occurred gradually and was not too steep.

Current prices

Since 1997, the price of water has risen. Today, it ranges from the average supply cost (0.02 - 0.03 RMB/cubic metre) to 0.18 RMB, depending on the local economic level. "Although the present price is very high in some localities, it is acceptable to most farmers," says Professor Yu.

Other recommendations proposed by the researchers have also been implemented. For example, covering irrigation trenches with plastic microfilm and lining canals with concrete have increased the basin-wide water-utilization rate from 40 to 42%, saving tens of millions of cubic metres of water annually.

New techniques

Professor Yu adds that cultivation techniques have also been improved in the pilot areas. For example, farmers have flattened their fields to prevent run-off and grains are being replaced with cotton because of its higher economic return. In addition, some anti-desertification measures have been introduced. The research team found that in some areas, crops can be grown first within glades of poplar trees. This sandbreak system can then be increased using cotton perch and bulrush. As a result, farmers are now planting Shaguai jujube and Suosuo trees on land that is otherwise too alkali to farm.

While it's too early to know whether their efforts will reverse environmental damage in the Tarim Basin, the researchers have provided a scientific basis for the long term sustainable use of the region's most precious resource. It's now up to water users and water managers in the area to adopt the measures needed to ensure that agriculture and industrial development can continue without harming the environment.

Michael Dobie is a writer based in Beijing. (Photo: D. Anton, IDRC)

[Reference: IDRC Project Number 978012]

If you have any comments about this article, please contact info@idrc.ca . 

For more information:

Professor Yu Suhua, Institute for Techno-Economic and Energy Systems Analysis, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, 100084; Email: suhua@inet.tsinghua.edu.cn

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Tarim Basin Desertification and Water Management, China

Community-Based Natural Resource Management program initiative

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