More and more farmers in south China's Guangdong Province grew keenly aware of the importance of eco-environmental protection in the course of accelerating local economic development and have thus been rewarded by their endeavors.

For Xu Jitao, an ordinary farmer at Xiaxishan New Village in Ruyuan County of Guangdong Province, water and marsh gas ponds mean the start of a better life.

Xiaxishan New Village, 50 km away from the seat of Ruyuan County, is a limestone mountainous area, where transport used to be inconvenient. Moreover, the region has harsh climate and hardly any even level ground. Local residents had to rely on rainwater for water supply.

To solve the problem of water deficiency, the village, with 24 households in all, built more than 80 water storage ponds two years ago.

"With the water ponds, we don't have to fetch water from faraway places as we used to," said Xu, adding, "There was plenty of water in the ponds last year when our village was hit by the worst drought in a decade."

Some other villages in the region followed the example of Xiaxishan New Village.

The 4,450 households in Leijiawo Village have built 4,406 water ponds, which have a combined water storage capacity of 450,000 cubic meters, providing adequate water for daily life and irrigation.

With subsidies from governments at different levels, farmers in the limestone areas of Shaoguan City have built various kinds of water conservancy facilities capable of retaining 2.57 million cubic meters of water since July 2000.

These water retaining works have helped improve irrigation on 5,027 hectares of arid farmland and solve the problem of inadequate water supply for 62,500 rural population.

Qin Weidong, secretary of Shaoguan City Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), said, "Construction of water ponds is only a temporary measure, the key to solving the problem permanently is to protect the ecological environment where farmers live."

"It won't do only by closing up mountains for afford station because farmers have to cook meals with firewood. If you don't allow them to fell trees for fuel, what will they cook with?" the official asked.

"The spread of marsh gas ponds has been proved a good way to meet farmers' need," he added.

Party and government departments in Shaoguan City last year unveiled a detailed plan on popularizing marsh gas among 200,000 rural households within five years.

To attain the goal, Shaoguan City Government has opened 20-plustraining courses on construction of marsh gas ponds. Up to now, 300 technicians have graduated from the training courses.

Xu Jitao, the farmer from Xiaxishan New Village, spent almost all his earnings on building a new house of his own. Yet, he managed to raise 1,000 yuan (about US$121) last winter to build a marsh gas pond.

"Previously, it was quite troublesome to make fire by burning firewood. As a result, my children had to take cold leftovers as breakfast," Xu said.

"We felt it much more convenient to use marsh gas in cooking and my children could have properly cooked food for breakfast nowadays," he added.

An estimate provided by relevant departments of Lechang City says the use of marsh gas as a substitute energy for cooking and illumination makes it possible for each rural household to save 2,500 kg of firewood annually, equivalent to avoidance of felling 3,300 sq m of trees.

According to Qin Weidong, the local party secretary, Shaoguan City allocated 8.7 million yuan (about US$1.07 million) last year on building marsh gas ponds.

To date, marsh gas has been available as a form of substitute energy at 14,000 rural households in Shaoguan, benefiting 70,000 rural residents in all.

An estimate of 40,000 marsh gas ponds will be added to the city in each of the next few years, a local official said.

"Use of marsh gas as energy has given way to construction of more infrastructure intended to improve the environment, such as rebuilding of kitchens and toilets, which has in turn improved the appearance of rural areas and raised the quality of farmers' life, advanced integration of urban and rural development, laying a solid foundation for the realization of a more affluent society among farmers," Qin Weidong said.

By boosting local economy, the per capita net income of rural residents in Shaoguan reached 3,461 yuan (about US$426.76) last year, a rise of eight percent over the previous year.

(Xinhua News Agency August 19, 2005)