The project will finance: irrigation and drainage upgrades; land levelling; soil testing; fertilizer application; and windbreak trees to reduce soil degradation and increase fertility.
Assistance will be provided to repair farm service roads, promote the use and distribution of high quality seeds, and to purchase modern farm machinery.
The project will also provide training in modern, environmentally friendly agricultural techniques to farmer groups.
21 November 2012: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has announced a US$200 million loan to the Government of China for the Comprehensive Agricultural Development Project, which aims to improve irrigation, drainage, crop output and farming productivity in China’s most important grain producing regions. Project activities will focus on 117,000 hectares of land in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, as well as Anhui, Heilongjiang, Henan, Jilin and Yunnan provinces.
According to the ADB, current irrigation systems in China cover less than half of total arable land. Many existing systems are dilapidated because of poor maintenance, and poor drainage has left over 24 million hectares of cultivated land waterlogged.
The project will finance: irrigation and drainage upgrades; land levelling; soil testing; fertilizer application; and windbreak trees to reduce soil degradation and increase fertility. Assistance will be provided to repair farm service roads, promote the use and distribution of high quality seeds, and to purchase modern farm machinery. The project will also provide training in modern, environmentally friendly agricultural techniques to farmer groups. [ADB Press Release]