BEIJING - China will keep its water conservation policies consistent and stable this year to bring benefits to farmers, a senior official said Thursday.

Minister of Water Resources Chen Lei told Xinhua in an exclusive interview that the country is going to maintain stable growth of investment into water conservation projects and make vigorous efforts to counter flood and drought disasters.

This year, the ministry plans to provide safe drinking water to 60 million rural residents and more than 8 million students and teachers in rural areas, and provide efficient irrigation to more than 10 million mu (666,667 hectares) of farmland, Chen said.

The official also said that the country will improve other water conservation projects as planned.

China invested 345.2 billion yuan ($54.73 billion) in water conservation projects in 2011, according to Chen.

The investment was used in improving farmland irrigation, strengthening reservoirs, providing safe drinking water to rural residents and improving other water conservation infrastructure.

China has attached great importance to improving its underdeveloped water conservation system, and has pledged to invest an annual average of 400 billion yuan in water conservation over the 2011-2020 period.