The project developed water saving cropping systems that have been demonstrated at 11 original
demonstration sites. More recently four new sites were established in Hebei and new sites at in each
of four neighbouring provinces. These sites have consistently shown that irrigation water for water
saving cropping systems can be reduced by up to 30% as compared to traditional cropping systems
without reduction in yields.
The zero till system of planting corn, introduced by the project, has been adopted by a majority of
farmers in Hebei and applied to over 700,000 ha in the North China Plain in 2000. This has enabled
farmers to not only conserve soil moisture and increase yield but also improve soil quality and reduce
greenhouse gas emissions (reduced use of fuel and by not burning wheat residue). Over 50,000 zero
till corn seeders designed, developed and performance tested by the project have been manufactured
and sold in Hebei. New winter wheat varieties with a higher-level drought resistance have been
developed and are now used for production on over 50,000 ha of land. Bio-control systems for both
insects and diseases have been developed and are now gradually being adopted by farmers. These
¿green¿ techniques allow increased yields of corn and cotton with little or no requirements for
pesticides enhancing environmental sustainability. Balanced fertilization techniques aimed at
capturing optimum yields, reducing potential soil and ground water pollution and reducing costs have
been adopted by many farmers, particularly in the demonstration sites.