Review of agricultural water-saving policies and measures in recent years – a case study of Jiangsu Province, China

Abstract

Abstract The scarcity of water resources has posed serious threats to the sustainable development of agriculture. China is a largely agricultural country with a large population, and agricultural water consumption accounts for more than 50% of the total water consumption. The application of water-saving irrigation is the main way to realize the sustainable development of water resources and economics. To comprehensively improve crop water-use efficiency and reduce agricultural water consumption, the Chinese central government have promulgated a series of agricultural water-saving policies since 2012, such as strengthening water management, increasing financial investment, and strengthening project construction and operation management and protection. Taking Jiangsu as an example, this paper reviews the main water-saving policies and measures of governments after 2012, as well as the conflicting interest between different water-saving participants. Results showed that, through water-saving policies and measures, its effective utilization coefficient of agricultural irrigation water (EUCAIW) has increased from 0.59 in 2014 to 0.614 in 2019. By 2019, the area of irrigated arable land controlled by water-saving technologies is 2.848 million hectares, accounting for 67.8% of the irrigated arable land area in Jiangsu. Jiangsu's water-saving policies have been implemented well, and it has guidance on water-saving reform work in other places.