More than 200 hectares of cropland in Pingtan county, Fujian province, have avoided rainy-season floods thanks to a comprehensive water and soil conservation project launched by the county government.

The project, which was launched in 2008, was designed to improve the environment of 620 hectares of land in the Huanglong brook basin in Zhonglou township. The plan encouraged tree and grass cultivation, dike construction, and lope and bank protection.

"The project is comprehensive and concerns the agriculture, irrigation and tourism sectors," said Wu Henggui, director of the local water and soil conservation office. "Through these measures, we can definitely make use of the brook for farmland irrigation."

He added that the project also plays an important role in flood control and drainage in the basin.

The land near the area was indiscriminately dug up long before, causing a great deal of sand, silt, waste water and chemicals to wash into the brook, which polluted the water quality and threatened lives, said Wu Zhaoyang, head of Zhonglou township. As a result, the farmland was usually ravaged by floods during rainy seasons.

Under the water and solid conservation project, rocks have been piled up by the brook, allowing much more water to run through and thus preventing farmland from being washed away.

"What we need to do is clear the river channel before the rainy season comes every year. Otherwise, sediment from the upper stream will raise up the riverbed and expose risks," said Wu.

Edited by Chen Zhilin and Michael Thai