The project is expected to upgrade water utilization efficiency from around 45 percent to 70 percent by the end of 2005, thereby saving 90 to 95 billion cubic meters of water annually.

The central government will invest 200 million yuan (US$24 million) in the coming three years to improve irrigation technology and agricultural production management.

The project, to be launched by the Ministry of Science and Technology, is now undergoing a final feasibility study.

Biological technologies, especially the cultivation of drought-resistant corn and wheat breeds, will also be highlighted in the project, according to the ministry.

According to the ministry, the project is expected to produce about 30 new drought-resistant breeds and 60 water-saving farm technologies. Roughly 30 large agricultural enterprises are expected to construct the relevant facilities.

The ministry called together 19 domestic water experts from around the country yesterday, along with officials from the Ministry of Water Resources and the Ministry of Agriculture, to carry out the final feasibility study and fix the details.

The project, which is one of the 12 key national scientific research items in the country's 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-05), is expected to start next month if the feasibility studies are approved, the science ministry said.

It will combine the efforts of leading water experts around the country, as well as imported technologies, to ease the headache of water shortages.

Vice-Minister Liu Yanhua, who leads the project, noted yesterday that research on the reduction of agricultural water consumption should be started as soon as possible.

And the country's water resources are unevenly distributed, with the northern parts extremely deficient in water, according to Liu.

Areas north of the Yangtze River, which make up around 65 percent of the country's territory and hold 40 percent of its total population, only possess around 19 percent of the nation's water resources, according to the project's feasibility report.

China's population is expected to reach 1.6 billion by 2030. By that time, per-capita water resources will drop from the current 2,220 cubic meters to 1,760 cubic meters, perilously close to the internationally recognized water-shortage benchmark of 1,700 cubic meters, according to the report.

The country's agricultural sector, as a major water consumer, uses more than 400 billion cubic meters of water per year, accounting for 70 percent of the country's annual water supply, said the report.

(China Daily June 13, 2002)