Investigation and Technical Evaluation of Sprinkle Irrigation in Shandong Province

Abstract

This paper takes 30 hm 2 wheat sprinkling irrigation land of Yunguo Family Farm in Yanzhou, Shandong Province, China as a sample, and draws a conclusion by comparing it with other households (including individual and large households). The conclusions are as follows: wheat sprinkling irrigation has a remarkable water-saving effect and comparative revenue. Water saving efficiency can reach 61.54% and a comprehensive income-increase rate can reach 38.67%. The main factors of increasing income and incentives of saving irrigation by sprinkling irrigation ranks as the following: saving land consolidation and water monitoring labors (accounts for 62.50%), saving land area of wheat bed to increase production and income (accounts for 23.44%), saving water bills (accounts for 14.06%). The incentive effect of water saving is not obvious mainly because the water price is low. The main obstacles to the promotion of sprinkling irrigation by individual household are the uneconomical scale and the barriers of coordination of proxy irrigation. Other large household’s (family farm) obstacles are mainly the instability of land tenure and mixed management. Suggestions on promoting sprinkling irrigation in wheat field: Accelerate land circulation and promote agricultural scale management to create basic scale conditions for spreading sprinkling irrigation; stabilizing farmland management rights as stabilizing farmland contractual rights, thus giving long-term business interests to all kinds of large household owners; guide the development of “scale + specialization” modern family farms; appropriate water saving subsidies should be given according to the positive externality of household water saving; confirm agricultural water rights to household and allow compensated transfer of “surplus water rights”.