China's national lawmakers have approved the outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30), laying out a blueprint centered on high-quality development that calls for accelerating agricultural and rural modernization, advancing comprehensive rural revitalization, and strengthening the country's capacity to ensure food security.

To support agricultural modernization and strengthen food security, China is enhancing water-use efficiency in its farming sector, an area that has seen notable progress in recent years. Irrigated agriculture has played a crucial role in ensuring food security and supplying agricultural products across the country. However, there are still certain shortcomings in the country's water-efficient agricultural technologies and products, which constrain the further development of irrigated agriculture.

Therefore, greater efforts should be made during the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) period to advance water-efficient agricultural technologies and products. This is essential for the high-quality development of agriculture and for ensuring agricultural water security in China. Four key measures can help in this direction.

First, the evaluation of drought-resistant and water-efficient germplasm resources, along with the breeding of new varieties, needs to be strengthened. Germplasm resources are the "chips" of agriculture, and new varieties are key to increasing crop productivity. Efforts should be made to enhance the collection of these resources and establish a sound system to identify and evaluate them.

Special attention should be given to the major agricultural needs of irrigated farmland in drier regions. Accelerating the cultivation of breakthrough varieties that are resource-efficient, high-quality and suitable for mechanized production is crucial. These new varieties should support cultivation methods that are simpler and less labor intensive compared to traditional ones.

Second, the infrastructure in irrigation areas should also be improved. Efforts should continue to construct high-standard farmland equipped with facilities such as canal systems, integrated water and fertilizer management systems and agricultural machinery. This will effectively enhance the basic conditions in irrigation areas, laying a solid foundation for agricultural development in water-scarce regions.

Also, a series of measures should be adopted to enhance soil quality and productivity in high-standard farmland, including letting farmland lie fallow, practicing crop rotation, improving soil fertility, planting green manure and using organic fertilizers and fully biodegradable mulch films.

Irrigation areas should improve their networks of water supply, and continue developing digital twins of these areas, enabling more digitized and smart management with precise control of the whole irrigation process.

Third, the research and development of major technologies and equipment needs to be accelerated to facilitate the growth of water-efficient agriculture. Greater financial and policy support is needed. Establishing research and development platforms such as water-efficient agriculture research centers, laboratories and innovation alliances with the industry is essential. Initiatives aimed at achieving breakthroughs in water-efficient technologies should also be launched.

The country could better coordinate resources from its research institutes and universities to systematically conduct research and develop technologies and equipment such as real-time remote sensing and forecasting. Research institutes and universities should also collaborate to develop smarter water demand forecasting and integrated water-fertilizer management technologies. In addition, more research and experiments are necessary to overcome key technological bottlenecks to ensure a significant increase in the yield and quality of grain and other agricultural products even with reduced water use.

Fourth, the construction of experimental zones for promoting water-efficient agriculture needs to be advanced with joint efforts from companies, universities, research institutes and farmers. The experimental zones should be built in agricultural counties that tend to face water shortages. They should explore distinct water-efficient farming patterns that suit local conditions, as well as develop and apply multiple water conservancy technologies. Through these measures, the zones will be able to support China's latest campaign to boost crop yields and contribute to the sustainable production of grain, cotton and oil crops in the country.

The author is a member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and former president of the Gansu Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

The views don't necessarily represent those of China Daily.