In the early autumn season, rice enters a critical growth period. In Xijiang Village, Guankou Subdistrict, Liuyang City, the seedlings are green and the streams flow gently. "Thanks to the channel hardening and renovation, the 'bottleneck' in irrigation has been cleared and water conveyance efficiency has improved. Now farmland irrigation water is guaranteed." Looking at the vibrant scene before him, Xu Xinhua, Party branch secretary and village committee director of Xijiang Village, was beaming with joy.
As the "vegetable basket" on the outskirts of Liuyang's urban area, Xijiang Village is dominated by agriculture, with a total planting area of rice, fruit and vegetables exceeding 3,000 mu. "Although we are close to Daoyuan Reservoir, most of our canals are earthen channels built long ago. During busy farming seasons they often become blocked or collapse, causing inconvenience to agricultural production," Xu Xinhua said. Every winter and spring, the village organizes each group to contribute labor and funds to repair the canals and keep them clear. As a result, villagers' calls for hardening the canals have grown ever louder.
This year, the Liuyang Reservoir Resettlement Affairs Center actively supported the construction of small agricultural water conservancy facilities, providing certain reward and subsidy funds for projects such as canal repair and pond desilting in resettlement villages. Xijiang Village is a key resettlement village in Liuyang; in addition to local villagers, it is home to 94 resettlement households who moved here due to the construction of Daoyuan Reservoir and Zhushuqiao Reservoir. With the reward and subsidy funds, the village decided this year to carry out a comprehensive hardening and upgrading of Xiaochong Canal through a combination of "self-raised partial funds plus applied project reward and subsidy funds."
"Repairing the canal not only benefits the present generation but also leaves precious wealth for future generations." Resettled household Hu Minghong actively responded to the village's call. Before the formal repair work began, he and fellow villagers cleared weeds around the canal in advance and leveled the farm machinery roads to facilitate the entry and exit of construction vehicles and equipment. As a result, the construction team completed the 0.75-kilometer canal hardening project within half a month of entering the site, and it passed inspection and was put into use smoothly.
The effect of the canal hardening was immediate: irrigation area was improved on 180 mu, and 40 mu of irrigation area was newly restored. Completed in time for the peak period of agricultural water use, this renovation project greatly eased irrigation pressure. "Now, after water is released from Daoyuan Reservoir, farmers can quickly divert water for irrigation, reducing water loss and achieving economical use of water resources," Xu Xinhua said.
This year, Changsha City is expected to invest 18.5 million yuan in resettlement funds to support the construction of 155 small agricultural water conservancy facility projects, including 15 projects to clear "mid-stream bottlenecks" in canals and 140 pond projects to restore the water storage capacity of small rural water sources. It is estimated that upon completion the pond projects will add 1,019.82 million cubic meters of water storage capacity. As of the end of August, a total investment of 15 million yuan had been completed and 140 projects built, including 11 projects to clear "mid-stream bottlenecks" in canals and 129 pond projects to restore the water storage capacity of small rural water sources, striving to clear the "last kilometer" affecting farmers' production and irrigation.