"Whether there is a harvest or not depends on water". Since the beginning of this year, all regions and departments have insisted on preventing and controlling drought and flood, and have not relaxed their efforts to ensure summer harvest, summer planting and summer management, and have taken solid and detailed measures to ensure water conservancy for agricultural production. This year, the total area of spring irrigation in the country is about 430 million mu, and summer irrigation is carried out in an orderly manner.

Water conservancy is the lifeline of agriculture. The long and crisscrossing canal system and the clear water that nourishes the fields support the harvest season after season. The latest data from the Ministry of Water Resources shows that the irrigated area of cultivated land in my country has exceeded 1.08 billion mu, and the irrigation and drainage engineering system has been gradually improved, consolidating the water conservancy foundation for ensuring national food security. Recently, reporters visited irrigation areas such as Shaanxi, Henan, and Anhui to explore the practices of scientific water diversion and fine water use in major grain producing areas, and explored the transformation and upgrading of agricultural production methods through changes in water use.

South Main Canal of Jiaokou Chuwei Irrigation Area, Shaanxi Province——

Seeing the "harvest account" from a modern irrigation canal

Criss-crossing canals stretch far into the distance, and the water of the Wei River is pumped through pumping stations and slowly flows into the fields. "After planting corn in the field and pouring 'head-covering water', the seedlings grow neatly and strong." Zhang Xia, a large grain grower in Banbei Village, Linwei District, Weinan City, Shaanxi Province, is busy all the time.

The field planted by Zhang Xia is located near the South Main Canal of Jiaokou Chuwei Irrigation Area. Zhang Xia said that this spring encountered drought, high temperature and little rain, and it was really urgent at that time. Thanks to the South Main Canal, the wheat field was irrigated three times, and the wheat survived the drought.

"This year, the more than 600 mu of wheat planted has an average yield of 1,200 kilograms per mu, which is basically the same as last year." Zhang Xia calculated the summer grain account.

The South Main Canal is 21.5 kilometers long, with capillary channels extending on both sides, and the irrigation and drainage circulation is smooth. "In recent years, the village has leveled the land, turned small fields into large fields, and built high-standard farmland. It is very convenient to irrigate the land. When to irrigate the land, how much water is used, and how much water fee should be paid, you can know everything by opening your mobile phone." Zhang Xia said.

See an irrigation area from an irrigation canal. Since the comprehensive construction of the Jiaokou Chuwei Irrigation Area in the 1970s, it has undergone multiple rounds of modernization and upgrading. At present, it has built 30 pumping and drainage pumping stations and 344 kilometers of agricultural irrigation backbone channels, and has gradually become a large-scale, multi-stage, damless power pumping irrigation area combining irrigation and drainage.

Perfect infrastructure makes water diversion efficient. On June 5, the water inlet gate of the headwater hub renovation project of the Jiaokou Chuwei Irrigation Area was successfully put into trial operation. "The newly opened water inlet gate has strong water diversion and increased the water flow of the unit. The water diversion flow at the headwater reaches 39.5 cubic meters per second, setting a local record in the past 10 years, which effectively guarantees summer irrigation and drought resistance." Tong Taowen, deputy director of the Jiaokou Chuwei Irrigation Center of Shaanxi Province, said.

Scientifically organize irrigation and use water in an orderly manner. "The irrigation test station in the irrigation area regularly measures soil moisture content, observes rainfall, evaporation and crop seedling conditions, issues reminders on crop water use, and guides the public to use water scientifically." Han Yan'an, chief planner of Jiaokou Chuwei Irrigation Center, said.

"Since the construction and operation of the irrigation area, a total of 11.8 billion cubic meters of water has been diverted, and grain production has increased by 15 billion kilograms. In the next step, we will coordinate and promote the effective connection between the backbone projects of the irrigation area and the construction of field projects, and simultaneously promote the construction of water sources, water delivery and water use links, and continuously improve the complete irrigation and drainage system from water sources to fields." Liu Yong, secretary of the Party Committee and director of Jiaokou Chuwei Irrigation Center, said.

Modern irrigation areas irrigate harvest fields. Since the 14th Five-Year Plan, my country's modern irrigation area construction has made new progress. More than 7,300 large and medium-sized irrigation areas have been built, forming a relatively complete network system of water storage, water diversion, water lifting, water delivery and drainage projects. The irrigated area of arable land has continued to increase, and the per-mu yield of irrigation areas has reached 1.5 to 2 times the national average, laying a solid foundation for holding the "Chinese rice bowl" firmly.

West Main Canal of Henan People's Victory Canal Irrigation Area --

Looking at the "green account" from a water-saving irrigation canal

On the bank of the Yellow River, the "first canal for diverting the Yellow River for irrigation in New China" -- the People's Victory Canal draws water from the Yellow River to irrigate farmland in 11 counties (districts) in three cities of Henan Province, Xinxiang, Jiaozuo and Anyang.

From the canal repaired by people carrying on their shoulders more than 70 years ago to the 21st phase of water-saving transformation, the water of the Yellow River is hard-won, and we should save water when we have it.

"This year, due to the drought, our village's summer grain was irrigated four times, with an average yield of 1,490 kilograms per mu." Guo Ximing, Party Secretary of Tunjie Village, Fengzhuang Town, Huojia County, said.

West Main Canal of People's Victory Canal Irrigation Area passes through Tunjie Village. Speaking of this canal, Guo Ximing opened up: "The canal leads to the fields, and the three sides are plastered with cement, hardened and reinforced, with less leakage and faster water delivery."

In the past, the upstream scrambled for water, and the downstream could not use it, and the water use efficiency was low. Fengzhuang Town has established a farmer water user association to organize the irrigation of more than 30,000 mu of cultivated land in the town. "Watering the land has changed from being managed by each person to following a schedule." Yang Rongxin, head of the association, said that farmers report their water needs to the association in advance, and the association notifies farmers according to the irrigation time. The same canal water, water use is orderly, and the area of irrigated fields is larger.

From the field to the source, water-saving measures are constantly implemented. "The People's Victory Canal Irrigation District has explored advanced irrigation technologies such as planned water use, well-canal combination, silt irrigation and soil improvement, and rice conversion and alkali control, which has promoted the improvement of agricultural irrigation technology and irrigation district management level." Shang Sanlin, chief engineer of the Henan People's Victory Canal Security Center, said. Since the 14th Five-Year Plan, the irrigation district has invested 658 million yuan in continued construction and supporting facilities. After the project is completed, the average per-mu gross water consumption of cultivated land irrigation will drop from 90 cubic meters to 70 cubic meters, and the average per-mu grain output of the irrigation district will increase from 595 kilograms before the transformation to more than 656 kilograms.

Promoting water conservation and protecting the ecology, the green background of the irrigation district is more distinct. Shang Sanlin said: "In the next step, we will vigorously promote drought-resistant and water-saving varieties, optimize the farming system, build ecological ditches and irrigation forest networks, and achieve water-based production, technology-based water conservation, and green quality improvement."

Agriculture has shifted from a large water user to a large water-saving user. "By the end of 2024, the area of water-saving irrigation projects in China will reach 638 million mu, of which the area of efficient water-saving irrigation will exceed 400 million mu, and the effective utilization coefficient of farmland irrigation water will increase from 0.530 in 2014 to 0.580, and the average water consumption per mu of cultivated land irrigation will drop from 402 cubic meters in 2014 to 342 cubic meters, achieving increased production and efficiency without increasing water." said Xu Dezhi, deputy director of the Rural Water Conservancy and Hydropower Department of the Ministry of Water Resources.

Qingliangsi Branch Canal in Pishihang Irrigation District, Anhui Province -

Looking at the "Efficiency Account" from a Digital Irrigation Canal

Turn on your phone, tap the screen, the water pump starts with one click, and clean water flows to the fields. "With soil moisture monitors installed in the fields and automatic gates at the pump stations, we can clearly see which fields have deep or shallow water and how the rice is growing," said Jiang Hao, general manager of Linzhai Ecological Agriculture Technology Co., Ltd. in Lu'an, Anhui Province.

The water used for the 1,100 mu of fish-rice symbiotic fields and 2,400 mu of shrimp-rice symbiotic fields comes from the Qingliangsi branch canal in the Pishihang Irrigation District of Anhui Province. "It's not easy to manage thousands of acres of land. In the past, we had to patrol the fields every day to measure the water depth and check the growth of rice seedlings. If there was not enough water, we would open the pump station to release water; if there was too much water, we had to rush to open the gates to drain the water." Jiang Hao said that the digital system makes water use more convenient and farming more efficient.

Actual irrigation area, water inflow forecast, water demand forecast... Entering the dispatching center of the Pishihang Irrigation District Administration of Anhui Province, the information sent back by the "nerve endings" of the irrigation district, such as 2063 water condition stations, 1430 rain condition stations, and 40 soil moisture condition stations, constitutes a "picture of the irrigation district" and builds a digital twin irrigation district.

How to use limited water resources to irrigate 10.6 million mu of fertile land in the irrigation district?

"First, we must fully understand how much water there is in the irrigation district. Through the water storage monitoring model of the digital twin platform, we can grasp the water storage capacity of the irrigation district reservoirs and ponds in real time, and use the water inflow forecast model to analyze the water inflow in the next 10 days." Xu Hai, director of the Science and Technology Information Center of the Pishihang Irrigation District Administration of Anhui Province, said that secondly, the water demand forecast model accurately analyzes the water distribution plan preparation time from the original 1-2 weeks to a few minutes.

Models help to make water diversion more scientific. Irrigation district staff use water supply and demand forecasting and configuration models to optimize water storage, water lifting, and water supply scheduling. Since the beginning of this year, the irrigation area has diverted 788 million cubic meters of water for agricultural irrigation, and completed the planting of rice in an area of about 9.45 million mu.

The information system covers the fields within the pilot scope. "The fields are equipped with water measurement facilities, the terminal canal system is equipped with integrated measurement and control gates, and the smartphone is remotely controlled, becoming the farmer's 'field manager'." Xu Hai said.

Lu Ping, director of the Anhui Province Pishihang Irrigation District Management Bureau, introduced that the next step will be to continuously improve the irrigation district digital twin platform, increase the coverage of the water conservancy perception network and automatic control, iteratively upgrade the key business application systems such as water resources allocation and scheduling, channel flood control, and create a "useful, practical, and easy-to-use" digital twin irrigation district.

Digital twin technology equips the irrigation district with a "smart brain". In accordance with the requirements of "demand-driven, application-first, digital empowerment, and capacity building", the Ministry of Water Resources has actively promoted the construction of digital irrigation districts, and carried out pilot projects in 49 digital twin irrigation districts. It has encouraged irrigation districts with conditions to use digital twins and other technologies to accurately supply and distribute water, and improve the efficiency and benefits of irrigation and water supply.