Agricultural officials and scientists highlighted the urgency of developing more efficient irrigation methods at a forum on Saturday as China races to vitalize rural areas and modernize its agriculture.

The demand for more efficient watering techniques is on the rise as the country works to build high-standard farmland for large-scale mechanical farming and to construct demonstration zones for modernized agriculture, said Zhou Guomin, director of the Institute of Farmland Irrigation of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

The State Council, China's cabinet, unveiled a plan last year to increase the area of high-standard farmland to 71.67 million hectares by 2025 and 80 million hectares by 2030.

"The need for intelligent water conservancy and irrigation systems is ever more urgent," he said at the opening ceremony of The First National Smart Irrigation Forum, which opened Saturday in Xinxiang, Henan province.

The theme for the two-day event was "to focus on smart irrigation for rural vitalization".

The provincial government kicked off a program to build a demonstration zone spanning 130,000 hectares in cities of Xinxiang and Zhoukou this year to accumulate experience in the construction of high-standard farmlands.

Speaking at the forum, Xie Changwei, deputy director of the province's agriculture bureau, said the area of high-standard farmland in Henan had reached 5.05 million by end of last year, and the area irrigated by more efficient systems has reached 1.56 million hectares.

"The province was impacted by unprecedent floods last year but still the grain output stayed above 65 billion kilograms," he said.

"The high-standard fields have played a crucial role."

Dou Penghui, a technology official at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said the urgency to promote more efficient irrigation is also underlined by the fact that two-thirds of China's arable lands are scattered across arid or semi-arid regions.

"More efficient water use is important for a country of 1.4 billion to ensure the food security," he said.

Data from the agricultural ministry showed that agriculture accounts for 60 percent of China's water use. The water used for each hectare of farmland has dropped from 7,380 cubic meters in 1997 to 5,325 cu m last year.

Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences' Deputy Director Mei Xurong said at the forum that China has seen huge progress in increasing the ratio of the irrigated farmland to 51 percent, compared with the global average of 19 percent, though adding that scientists should see the gap existing between China and leading countries in the sector.

"It's the duty of our science community to bridge the gap," he said.

"It is also a question posed to us by the national strategy to strengthen the country through agriculture."

link：Experts highlight urgency of efficient irrigation - Chinadaily.com.cn