China News Service, Beijing, March 7 (Su Biying) Mei Yu, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and director of the Xinjiang Water Conservancy Department, said at the "Member Channel" of the second session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference that Xinjiang has opened up agricultural and pastoral areas at all costs. The "last mile" of drinking water.

  Mei Yu said in an interview with reporters that since the "13th Five-Year Plan", Xinjiang has invested a total of 19.5 billion yuan (RMB, the same below) and implemented 1,428 projects to consolidate and improve safe drinking water.

The drinking water problems of 3,666 rural and pastoral villages in the region have been fully resolved and consolidated.

On March 7, the second "Member Channel" collective interview event of the second session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference was held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Photo by China News Service reporter He Penglai

  Mei Yu introduced that as a typical inland arid area, Xinjiang has a per capita water resource of 3,227 cubic meters, ranking among the top in the country, but the water content per unit area is 51,000 cubic meters, only one-sixth of the national level.

  He recalled that Pile Village in Taxkorgan County in the Pamir Plateau of Xinjiang is located deep in the mountains, and 116 households of Tajik herdsmen once had difficulty in drinking water.

In 2018, the local government invested 13 million yuan to solve the village's drinking water safety problem, with an average investment of more than 110,000 yuan per household.

"When I visited the village in July 2023, the villagers took me to his home, pointed to the faucet and said excitedly that this was the most precious thing in their home, and they drank the sweet happiness."

  Mei Yu said that there are 67 villages in Xinjiang that are in a similar situation to Pile Village. For this reason, Xinjiang has spared no effort to open up the "last mile" of drinking water in agricultural and pastoral areas.

  He also cited Qitai County in Xinjiang as an example. This county is a water-scarce area in the country and is also a national commodity grain production base county.

Nowadays, field irrigation and fertilization management of 25,000 acres of cultivated land in Yaozhanzi Village, Qitai County have realized intelligent online operations on mobile phones; the total grain yield per unit area has hit new highs. At the same time, the village has contracted 200,000 acres of cross-regional land. Last year, the village collective The income reached 4.8 million yuan, and the per capita income exceeded 30,000 yuan.

  Mei Yu said that as of now, Xinjiang has 105.58 million acres of cultivated land, 62.85 million acres of high-efficiency water-saving irrigation area has been built, and the irrigation water utilization coefficient has reached 0.576, both higher than the national average.

Especially in 2023, Xinjiang's increase in grain sown area and total output will rank first in the country.

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