The region has as much irrigated land as the United States, and a lot of it is used for crops that are more easily grown in other places and imported.
Agricultural capital construction will be undertaken on an extensive scale, so that the eective area of irrigated land will reach 53.30 million ha by 2000, 56.70 million ha by 2010 and 66.70 million ha by 2030, respectively accounting for 56 percent, 60 percent and 70 percent of the cultivated land.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says salinization is reducing the world's irrigated lands by 1 to 2 percent every year.
