CCTV News: Salt-alkali land governance is a global problem. Dongying City, Shandong Province is a typical area of ​​coastal saline-alkali land in my country. National People's Congress representative Zhang Jinhai has lived next to this saline-alkali beach since he was a child. At the National People's Congress last year, his proposal for comprehensive utilization of saline-alkali land in the Yellow River Delta received positive responses from relevant national departments. This once deserted saline-alkali beach is gradually turning into fertile fields.

At present, it is the time when winter wheat is gradually greening. National People's Congress representative Zhang Jinhai rushed to Wuqi Village in Huanghekou Town early in the morning. In the large salt-alkali wheat field that had just been thawed, the green and tender wheat seedlings could not be seen at a glance. Villagers told Zhang Jinhai that after a winter, the salinity in the ground reached about 3/1000, and irrigation of the green water was very important.

The area of ​​saline-alkali land in my country is vast, with Dongying City having 3.41 million mu of saline-alkali land, which is very typical among coastal saline-alkali land in my country. National People's Congress Representative Zhang Jinhai: "The General Secretary pointed out that carrying out comprehensive utilization of saline-alkali land has important strategic significance for ensuring national food security and firmly holding the 'China's rice bowl'. As a representative of the National People's Congress and also a Dongying person who grew up on saline-alkali land, I know too much about the people on saline-alkali land, so I am determined to do my best to continue to make suggestions for the comprehensive management of saline-alkali land."

Water conservancy is the key to transforming saline-alkali land. At the 2024 National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, representative Zhang Jinhai proposed to increase support for the agricultural infrastructure of saline-alkali land in the Yellow River Delta, which received an active response from the Ministry of Water Resources, and Shandong Province also actively promoted the implementation of relevant policies. In 2024, 131 water conservancy projects were newly renovated and renovated in the Yellow River Delta region, with an investment of 6.14 billion yuan, and 51.5664 million cubic meters of water diversion were adjusted and diverted, specifically for the pilot project of comprehensive utilization of arable land reserve resources such as saline-alkali land. The water-saving renovation project in the irrigation area where Wuqi Village is located effectively solved the problems of difficulty in irrigation and water use here, and the water resource utilization rate and water transfer efficiency have been greatly improved.

From 2024 to the present, these policies and projects in Shandong Province have benefited more than 9 million mu of arable land in the Yellow River Delta region and more than 6 million people. Zhang Jinhai said that he was happy from the bottom of his heart when he saw that his suggestions could be adopted by relevant departments and implemented into good policies that benefit the villagers.

In Dongying, the once endless saline-alkali beach has now been renovated for more than 3.33 million acres of arable land. Zhang Jinhai has been investigating how to make these arable land a sustainable and stable fertile land and obtain more efficient comprehensive utilization. On the eve of this year's Two Sessions, he discussed with government departments and agricultural experts how to plant and promote saline-tolerant plants.

Zhang Jinhai learned through research that sweet sorghum has certain advantages in the comprehensive utilization of saline-alkali land. However, due to the lack of large-scale planting, there is little experimental data and poor industrial chain development. How to cultivate and promote saline-alkali-resistant economic crops requires integrated promotion of scientific and technological innovation in saline-alkali land from policies, platforms, industries and other aspects. After a year of visits, research and in-depth thinking, Zhang Jinhai has formed targeted suggestions on issues such as "salt-alkali land to carry out experimental demonstration planting of salt-alkali-resistant crops such as sweet sorghum" and is preparing to bring them to this year's National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Zhang Jinhai said that he called on more government departments, scientific research institutions and enterprises to jointly explore a scientific, effective and sustainable path to saline-alkali land governance.