State should get their feet wet

Severe droughts have struck many regions of China in recent years. From Chongqing and Chengdu several years ago; to Henan, Shandong and other provinces in North China last year; to the current one ravaging much of Southwest China, the lack of rainfall has become a serious natural calamity for China.

The resulting shortage of water has exposed serious problems in the nation's irrigation of farmland and a lack of water conservancy infrastructure in rural areas.

A lack of investment for years and the corresponding institutional shortcomings put many water saving facilities in a state of disrepair. The relatively low profit from grain cultivation also makes farmers reluctant to throw money into maintaining facilities.