Water efficient farming, a special S&T project initiated by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, has rolled out a line of economical dripping irrigation techniques represented by small-caliber pipes or hoses, desirable for China's daylight greenhouse irrigations. The project also led to the establishment of an assembly line to produce high speed (60?80m/min)dripping irrigation equipment. The effort drives down dripping irrigation price from RMB 0.6-1.2/m to current RMB 0.25/m, with dripping irrigation hoses from RMB 0.15-0.2/m to RMB 0.08/m. This makes the entire cost of a greenhouse dripping irrigation system further down from RMB 600-3,000/mu(1mu=0.0667ha.) to current RMB 350-1000/mu, with a reduced margin by 50% or above.

The project, using magnetic oscillation based blowing technique, developed a fully degradable farming film with a thickness about 20 microns. It also established a production line to roll out such films, with an annual capacity of 200 tons. Preliminary testing has shown that the film can be fully degraded in a year, with its technological performance fully desirable for replacing existing farming films.

High molecule based water preserving materials of high absorption, a core composite developed by the project, together with a new water containing mineral, bring about numerous merits, including high absorption, strong water containing capability, fine salt resistance, and strong gluing capacity. The enhanced technology drives down production costs from RMB 20,000/ton to RMB 9,000/ton, presenting a strong market perspective.

The new large-caliber nylon pipe materials, intensified polythene pipes, and bamboo fiber pipes, also derived from the special project, have registered an enhanced performance by 20% or above, and a lowered cost by 30%, compared with high density polyethylene pipes. 

In addition, the project produced series and standardized farming machinery for water conservancy and moisture retaining. New mechanic systems can be used in 20 different forms for joint operation, including ploughing and soil loosening, seeding and planting (including film seeding), ploughing and planting, and field stalk smashing. New farming machinery also allows some 40 combinations of farming activities, with a broad application perspective thanks to reliable performance and low costs.  

The effort also promotes the industrialized development of water efficient equipment and products, and spurs up a fast development of water efficient enterprises, which increases the market share of domestic made water efficient equipment and products by 30% or 50%.