Pay farmers to halt irrigation to ease water crisis, Chinese adviser urges

Pay farmers to halt irrigation to ease water crisis, Chinese adviser urges

Freshwater ecosystem destroyed after 50 years of turning desert into farmland, says report commissioned by Chinese government

Jonathan Watts, Asia environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Monday 18 May 2009 16.00 BST

China should pay farmers to halt irrigation in the environmentally degraded far west despite long-standing concerns about food security, a senior government adviser has told the Guardian.

After more than 50 years of converting desert to farmland, the expert says the water problems in Xinjiang are so acute that the vast region – bigger than two-thirds of the world's nations – cannot develop further unless it pulls people off the fields and into cities.

Ideas for a pilot project aimed at reducing water use intensity in the area have been submitted by the expert, who was dispatched by the prime minister last year to study the problem.

The report's findings, as told to the Guardian, suggest the dash to transform desert into farmland over the past 50 years has resulted in a massive waste of water resources and environmental damage.

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