With demand for fruit and vegetables increasing all over China, greenhouses have made an appearance in more unlikely, cold weather areas such as Lishi county in the mountain areas of Shanxi. However, the water available for irrigation in these areas is often too cold to for the purpose (below 10 degrees).
Professor Fan Guishang with a team of students from from Tanjuan University of Technology have developed a simple, effective system of heating the water diverted to the greenhouses. This involves drawing water from a relatively warm source (such as an underground spring) and storing it in a shallow pit inside the greenhouse.
This technique is known to have enable farmers to grow a third crop in greenhouses. The costs are usually recovered within the first year.
(This initiative is a pilot was supported under ADB-Grant 0188-PRC Climate Change Adaptation through Groundwater Management and is implemented through the Shanxi Integrated Agricultural Development Office.)
More info: TheWaterBlog/ColdWeatherIrrigation
Produced by: Frank van Steenbergen
Year: 2012
Language: Various (English subtitles)
