Decade on from failed Chinese well-digging project, poor farmers wait for water
- Poverty busting project in northern China was meant to increase cultivation of green vegetables
- Instead, more than 100 inadequate wells have been abandoned
More than 100 wells dug by a local government in northern China have been abandoned and covered over because they failed to produce any water.
Built in 2000, the wells were part of a poverty alleviation programme in Xiuyan county, Liaoning province, looking to spur cultivation of green vegetables, CCTV’s Half-hour Economy programme reported on Thursday.
The problem was first exposed in 2015 by the same programme, and most of the wells have now been filled in to prevent people from tripping into or over them.
“This well does not have any water, it’s just for show. All of the ones here are like that,” Li Guoyi, a county resident told CCTV.
Li’s farmland is next to one of the abandoned wells. He said he cannot grow as many square metres of vegetables as he would like as they require more water.
Instead, he cultivates hardy crops that fetch lower prices, like potatoes and corn. He has had to buy a pump and transport water from a source 200 metres away for irrigation, according to the report.