Investigation report on comprehensive reform of agricultural water price in Hubei Province

Since the reform of rural taxes and fees, the problems existing in agricultural water price reform, water fee collection and farmland water conservancy construction have become hot and difficult issues in rural work and social attention. Farmers have resistance to paying agricultural water charges, and the income of agricultural water charges in water management units has dropped sharply, making it difficult to survive and develop. The contradiction between farmers and water management units shows an increasing trend. In order to solve this problem, under the unified deployment of the Ministry of Water Resources, our province has carried out a "trinity" comprehensive reform of agricultural water prices. We have investigated 12 project counties that have implemented comprehensive agricultural water price reform, understood the basic situation of project county construction and the reform effect, and analyzed and put forward the ideas and key points of comprehensive agricultural water price reform in our province in the future.

First, the main difficulties and problems faced by agricultural water prices

1, agricultural irrigation water fee income and water supply cost are too different. The approved water price of water conservancy projects is too low. According to the average situation of typical investigation, the estimated water price of agricultural water is about 0. 1 16 yuan/m3, and the approved water price is about 0.039 yuan/m3. The approved water price accounts for 34% of the estimated water price, while the water fee collection rate is only 62%. In fact, the water supply cost of water pipe unit only recovered 2 1%. The difference between income and cost makes the water conservancy project management unit suffer serious losses, the water supply project is difficult to maintain, the project is aging and disrepair, and the benefit is low.

2. Agricultural water charges are difficult to collect. Under the background of policies to strengthen agriculture and benefit farmers, such as canceling agricultural tax, increasing support for agriculture and increasing various subsidies, it is more and more difficult to collect agricultural water charges. First, the supporting facilities of the project are not complete, and the metering facilities in many irrigation areas, especially the final canal system, are not perfect. Therefore, the water fee cannot be charged according to the quantity, and it can only be charged equally by one mu, which cannot reflect the principle of "whoever benefits will bear the burden". Second, the effective irrigation area is shrinking year by year, which is difficult to verify. Due to historical reasons, the farmland area standards in irrigation areas are different, which are 667m2,1000m2 and1200m2 respectively. At first, the accuracy of farmland verification was questioned by farmers. Moreover, due to the adjustment of industrial structure and the siltation of the last canal system, the effective irrigation area is decreasing year by year, and it is difficult to verify the area in time. Third, there are misunderstandings in farmers' understanding. Some counties and cities in our province canceled agricultural water charges, which led to farmers in surrounding counties and cities unwilling to pay water charges. However, the current water price policy, water fee publicity is not in place, farmers' understanding is biased, and water fee collection is also embarrassing.

3. River siltation and water damage have seriously increased the burden of farmers' water charges. The Dounong Canal in our province was built in the 1960s and 1970s. Due to the long construction time of the canal, low initial construction standards, insufficient investment in later maintenance, aging engineering facilities, unsuitable buildings and serious damage, the phenomenon of running, leaking, dripping and leaking of the canal is very serious, and the utilization coefficient of the canal system is low, most of them can not reach 0.6, and some even can not reach 0.4. In canal system buildings, there are few sluices, and the sluices are basically uncontrolled. When farmers use water, they form dams upstream and drain water downstream, which often leads to water conflicts. Most canals have no water supply facilities. When using water, estimate the water consumption according to the depth and time of crossing and experience. The amount of water actually reaching villages and fields is about 35-40% of the discharged water, and some of them are even lower, which leads to the increase of farmers' actual water fee burden.

Second, the comprehensive reform of agricultural water price in Hubei Province in recent years

Since 2008, Hubei Province has carried out comprehensive agricultural water price reform demonstration in dangyang city, Jingzhou District, Nanzhang County, Yidu City, Qianjiang City, Xian 'an District, jiangling county City, Xiantao City, caidian district City and laohekou city City 12 project areas. The details of the reform are as follows:

1. Construction of the last canal system project. In each project area, the water-saving renovation project of the final canal system was carried out in strict accordance with the approved plan. More than 233 kilometers of various canal systems were renovated, more than 6,300 culverts, agricultural gates, falls, bridges and culverts and water diversion were built and rebuilt, nearly 200 ponds were rebuilt, and more than 583 water measuring facilities were built and rebuilt. Through the transformation, the final canal system in the project area is matched up and down, with complete facilities, water metering facilities meeting the requirements of metering and charging, and technical indicators reaching the predetermined goals and relevant specification requirements.

2. Standardize the construction of water users' associations. Each project area has established a farmers' water users association according to the regulations, established and improved the association's articles of association, various work management systems and post responsibility systems, and implemented democratic management of the association. For example, the Farmers' Water Users Association in Daxi Irrigation District of Yidu City has a council, a financial management team and a water manager. The 7,830 farmers who benefited from the irrigation area were divided into 60 water use groups, and the water supply, drainage and water use were supervised through democratic deliberation system. After the standardized construction of farmers' water users associations in three irrigation areas in Laohekou, they signed water supply contracts with management units, formulated water use plans, established quota management, implemented water distribution to households, and promoted water affairs disclosure, which played an active leading role in water management, engineering maintenance, water fee collection, water dispute coordination and other wading affairs.

3, the implementation of agricultural terminal water price. Each project area is calculated according to the regulations and reported to the government price department for approval. The terminal water price is about 0.08 yuan per party, and the metering point is determined as the water inlet of the agricultural canal. After the water price reform, the terminal water price in most project areas increased, which not only ensured the cost of project management and maintenance, but also reduced the actual burden on farmers. For example, the water fee in the irrigation area of the third main canal of Dongfeng in dangyang city increased from 0.055 yuan to 0.083 yuan. Although the water price has increased, due to the reduction of water release time, less water consumption and waste of water resources, farmers actually pay even less water charges than before.

4. Define the property rights of the final canal system project. According to the goal of "clear property rights, clear responsibilities and democratic management", each project area has actively sought the understanding and support of local governments on the basis of completing the task of final canal system reform, and has successively carried out property rights system reform. City (county) Water Conservancy Bureau, authorized by the local government, will hand over the final canal system project property right to the farmers' water users association, which will register the final canal system project property right, issue a certificate of use right, and the association will be responsible for the management, so as to comprehensively promote farmers' water autonomy. Water users' association has formulated a perfect engineering maintenance system, implemented a hierarchical responsibility system, identified the responsible person, and determined the source of maintenance funds collected by the association by "one case, one discussion" according to the benefit area of water users.

Third, the comprehensive reform of agricultural water price has achieved remarkable results.

Through a series of effective measures such as strengthening organizational guarantee, fund supervision, construction management, association construction, terminal water price management and property right system construction, the comprehensive reform of agricultural water price in Hubei Province has achieved remarkable results. A relatively perfect irrigation and drainage system has basically been formed in the demonstration project area, and the water utilization coefficient and irrigation guarantee rate of canal system have been greatly improved, forming a benign operation and management mechanism of farmland water conservancy projects, ensuring the increase of grain and cash crops and farmers' income. Specific performance in:

1, water saving benefit. With the implementation of the water-saving reconstruction project of the last stage canal system, the water conveyance speed of the canal is obviously accelerated and the water passing capacity is obviously improved. 12 pilot project areas, the average utilization coefficient of Dounong canal increased from 0.55 to 0.77, and the irrigation water utilization rate of the last canal system increased by 22%. The water saved in the project area can increase the irrigation area by 6.5438+0.5 million mu.

2. Reduce burdens and increase efficiency in agriculture. After the implementation of water price reform, the average water fee expenditure of farmers decreased from 30.58 yuan/mu before implementation to 20.7 yuan/mu, and the per capita net income of farmers increased from 55 15 yuan/year to 60 10 yuan/year. Take the half-moon prairie fire project area in dangyang city as an example. Before implementation, the water fee per mu was 5 1 yuan, accounting for 9% of the net income per mu. After the implementation of the project, the water fee expenditure per mu is 28.5 yuan, accounting for 2. 1% of the output value per mu and 3.5% of the average net income per mu. It can be seen that the implementation of this project has effectively reduced the burden on farmers and increased their income.

3. Social welfare. Outstanding performance in the close relationship between cadres and masses, solving the problem of difficult water use. The hardening construction of the last canal system not only solved the problem of "running, running, dripping and leaking" of water, but also laid a good foundation for collecting water charges in the future, became a "link" between farmers and cadres, and enhanced the trust and cohesion of the masses in grassroots party organizations and cadres. At the same time, through the transformation of the terminal channel, the problems of water consumption difficulty, high cost and heavy water fee burden for farmers are effectively solved by reducing leakage, improving water utilization coefficient, saving water resources, shortening water consumption cycle and reducing water consumption cost.

Four, the idea and focus of comprehensive reform of agricultural water price in the future

The xx plenary meeting of the xx session of the Communist Party of China (CPC) clearly pointed out that to build an ecological civilization, we must implement the system of paid use of resources and the system of ecological compensation, and reform the management system of ecological environment protection. We believe that the focus of agricultural water price reform in the future will also fall on two major themes: covering cost and protecting resources and environment. The general idea is still: thoroughly implement the spirit of the xx Party Congress, seize the favorable opportunity to speed up the construction of farmland water conservancy, and follow the principle of "saving water, reducing farmers' water expenses, ensuring the benign operation of the project, and innovating the system and mechanism of water conservancy projects".

First, improve the price formation mechanism of agricultural water supply. Water fee is the main economic source and important guarantee for farmers' autonomy in water use and the normal operation of farmland water conservancy projects. Without the guarantee of water fee, the completed projects will be in trouble again due to the lack of operation and maintenance funds, and the farmers' water users association will be difficult to operate due to the lack of working funds. It will be difficult for farmers to establish the concept of saving water, and it will be difficult to eliminate the phenomenon of water shortage and waste. Therefore, we should further deepen the reform of agricultural water supply price, speed up the pace of water price adjustment, establish a flexible and diverse agricultural water supply price adjustment mechanism, and formulate agricultural water price according to water supply cost. On the basis of system reform and engineering transformation, it is necessary to analyze farmers' economic affordability, establish and gradually implement the system of terminal water price plus final canal water price of state-owned water conservancy projects, implement metering and charging, rectify the order of final canal water price, and reduce farmers' water cost. At the same time, according to the actual situation, the total agricultural water control and quota management system should be established, and irrigation should be carried out according to the demand and quota, so as to promote the construction of rural water rights system and gradually form an economic incentive mechanism for saving transfer and overuse.

The second is to speed up the supporting construction of the final canal system and metering facilities. Combined with the supporting construction of large and medium-sized irrigation areas, water-saving renovation, small-scale farmland water conservancy and other infrastructure construction, we will promote the simultaneous supporting construction of the last stage canal system and the backbone project, effectively solving the "last mile" of farmland irrigation caused by the mismatch of the last stage canal system. To further improve the water supply metering facilities, water metering points must be set up between the state-owned water conservancy project units and the water cooperation organizations in the canal irrigation area, and the areas with conditions can be metered to households; Explore the incentive mechanism of "civilian-run assistance" and "build first and then make up" in the construction of the final canal system and water supply metering facilities, and improve the enthusiasm of farmers to participate in construction and management.

The third is to strengthen the standardization of farmers' water cooperation organizations. In recent years, farmers' water users' associations in our province have developed rapidly, but many associations can't regulate their operation or have difficulties in operation. In the next step, we should focus on supporting the normal operation of farmers' water users' associations, guide them to further standardize management, form hematopoietic function, gradually explore the project construction undertaken by farmers' water users' associations, promote farmers' water autonomy, and implement farmers' water consultation. It is necessary to guide and strengthen the capacity building of farmers' water users' associations, and comprehensively improve the comprehensive management capabilities of the associations in water affairs such as engineering operation and maintenance, water management and water fee collection. , clear the rights and obligations, and truly cultivate the farmers' water users association into the main body of property rights, transformation and management and operation of the final canal system.

Fourth, the management system reform of small-scale irrigation and water conservancy projects should be promoted simultaneously. At present, the mode of production in rural areas is undergoing major changes, the trend of land circulation is obvious, the labor force is weakened, and agricultural services are specialized, which puts forward new requirements for the organizational form of farmland water conservancy. In order to adapt to this development trend, it is necessary to speed up the reform of property right system of small-scale farmland water conservancy projects and the construction of water conservancy grass-roots service system. These reform measures are interrelated and need to be considered and coordinated. The demonstration experience in recent years proves that the comprehensive reform of agricultural water price can be used as a "comprehensive carrier" of farmland water conservancy reform, which can be promoted on the same stage as the reform of small-scale water conservancy project management system, the construction of grass-roots water conservancy service system and the reform of agricultural water right system, innovate the system and mechanism of farmland water conservancy projects, adapt to the changes of rural production methods and promote the development of modern agriculture.