Irrigated Cotton Farming Lends Wings To Desertification, Aquifer Loss In Western China

[hatrack]

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Climate change is one reason for desertification. Another is human activity, such as overgrazing and deforestation, and a third can be attributed to farmers like the Chengs, who came to Xinjiang in the early ’90s to grow a crop that is among the most water-intensive in the world: cotton. In the late ’80s and ’90s, the government encouraged people to grow cotton. Those already living in the area learned how to farm the cash crop, even as new settlers arrived to do the same.

The push for cotton production is now taking its toll on the arid region’s water resources, the land, and the people who have come to live on it. “Land desertification is the most important ecological problem in China,” said Zhang Yongli of the State Forestry Administration, who cited erosion of habitable space, increased risk of natural disasters, and endangered agriculture as negative side effects of the phenomenon.

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Cheng’s family currently farms 1,000 mu of cotton. One mu, he said, produces about 300 kilograms of cotton — meaning the farm uses as much as 6 million liters of water annually. And this presents a predicament: Growing cotton is one of few ways for farmers to support their families, yet it concurrently depletes the parched region of its precious water, in turn degrading the soil and eventually leading to desertification, rendering the land all but uninhabitable.

Cheng Jinyu estimates that today he has about half as much water to irrigate his land as he did a decade ago. “Planting cotton has become more and more difficult because the water shortage is so bad,” he said. “It’s getting worse every year.” Farmers in Awat have dug elaborate canals and levees to divert water from the Yarkand River to their farms. In years past, the river, a headstream of the Tarim, China’s longest inland river, now only provides enough water in July and August. The rest of the year, farmers draw water from wells. But groundwater isn’t as good for agriculture, and to reach it, wells now have to go 100 meters deep, compared to around 70 meters before. The groundwater is so salty, one farmer said, that it barely keeps the cotton from drying out.

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http://www.sixthtone.com/NEWS/DESERTIFICATION-FORCES-XINJIANG-FARMERS-OUT

[dhol82]

1. I personally saw this in Uzbekistan

The Russians implemented a cotton growing plan back in the 60's and the area is devastated. You can see the salt on top of the dirt everywhere. Not sure where they are going to from here.

Article about the destruction of the Arab Sea.

http://www.columbia.edu/~tmt2120/introduction.htm