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A neighboring county of Beijing is developing ecologically friendly
farms so as to help ease the water shortage in Beijing.
Located in the upper reaches of the major rivers that flow into
the Miyuan reservoir in northwestern suburbs of Beijing, Luanping
county in north China's Hebei province plays a key role in securing
water sources of the capital city of China.
In order to stop continuous decreasing of water level at the Miyuan
reservoir, the major supply of drinking water of Beijing, the Ministry
of Water Conservancy and the municipal government of Beijing have
jointly set up an eco-farm zone encompassing Luanping county and
other areas of water sources of the city.
The government has also drafted a plan to guarantee sustainable
development of water resources of the capital city in the beginning
the 21 century.
Luanping county began to experiment with ecologically friendly
farms in March, 2000. With technical, financial and policy support
from the government, experts and enterprises, the county developed
nine hectares of herbal farms and seven hectares of date tree orchards.
By adopting spray irrigation in the farms and orchards, local farmers
managed to use 50 percent less water.
The county is planning to develop more than 266 hectares of herbal
farms and plant 10, 000 date trees next year. Meanwhile, it will
cultivate about 133 hectares of vegetables that are free from any
synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.
The water economy and economic returns of these herbal farms and
orchards have encouraged more and more local farmers to change their
conventional farming styles. Traditional crops such as corn and
rice are losing dominance in local farming.
For example, a farmer household can earn more than 10,000 yuan
(US$1,200) every year by planting isatis roots, a Chinese herbal
grass.
Wu Jisong, an official from the Ministry of Water Conservancy`,
said that eco-farms have played a key role in improving the living
standards of the local people and, at the same time, protecting
water resources of the capital city.
He said that changing the old farming styles is the key to resolve
the conflict between preservation of water sources and lifting poverty
for local farmers.
The local government of Luanping county is planning to encourage
local farmers to plant more Chinese herbal medicine, date trees
and vegetables next year.
(Beijing-2008 11/08/2000)
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