PPI/PPIC China Program Northwest region includes six provinces (autonomous regions), i.e. Inner Mongolia (IMAR), Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia and Xinjiang. It has a vast land area which accounts for about 45% of China total territory. Although the planted area is only 12% of the national total, the per capita arable land is more than national average in most of the provinces (Table 1). This region belongs to semiarid or arid region with less rainfall and most of the agricultural production mainly depends on irrigation (Figure 1 and Table 2). Table 1 The average per capita arable land and grassland in 2003 Province Population (10000 person ) Arable land (mu/person) Grassland (mu/person) Inner Mongolia 2362 7.50 132.37 Shaanxi 3618 1.62 0.07 Gansu 2543 2.35 0.06 Qinghai 510 1.91 49.80 Ningxia 543 3.65 0.28 Xinjiang 1774 3.74 0.24 National 125909 1.96 4.40 Figure 1. The average annual rainfall in the last 15 years Table 2 The irrigated area for each province in northwest China (,000ha) Planting area Available irrigated area Water-saving irrigation IMAR 5924.0 2735.9 1362.6 Shaanxi 4099.8 1302.9 756.5 Gansu 3668.9 1213.2 797.8 Qinghai 473.3 254.9 56.4 Ningxia 1158.3 417.9 186.9 Xinjiang 3592.3 3206.4 1889.8 National 153552.8 56252.1 20346.2 Source: China Agriculture Yearbook, 2005. The fertility of arable is poor, and fertilizer consumption has been inadequate and imbalance. In 2004, the amount of N, P and compound fertilizer consumed accounted for about 10% of national total, while K fertilizer consumption is only about 5%, suggesting the great potential in fertilizer consumption in this region. PPI/PPIC China program has been implemented in northwest region for years, included Nutrient Management Strategy (NMS), Balanced Fertilization Demonstration Program (BFDP). The experiments and demonstrations involved many kinds of crops such as wheat, corn, soybean, barley, potato, sunflower, rapeseed, cotton, forage corn, watermelon, seed melon, grape, tomato, hops, apple, kiwi fruit, forage grass, herbs and vegetable crops (Table 3). Through field trails/demonstrations and various activities such as field harvest day and farmer training, farmers have realized the important of potash in balanced fertilization, which has promoted utilization of potash consumption in northwest region of China (Table 4). Table 3 Planting area of main crops in northwest China (,000ha) in 2004 Prov. Rice Wheat Corn Potato Rapeseed Sunflower Cotton Apple Grape IMAR 2175.2 521.2 278.5 295.4 6.7 21.4 4.9 Shaanxi 2345.9 229.2 173.2 44.2 80.1 412.1 12.7 Gansu 1426.1 549.1 162.0 19.0 68.3 173.2 9.2 Qinghai 103.8 67.8 157.7 -- -- 5.3 0.1 Ningxia 531.3 103.6 0.2 28.2 0.2 18.3 6.9 Xinjiang 1271.2 23.1 67.5 85.6 1136.9 28.9 92.2 National 75450.8 4596.7 7271.6 934.9 5692.9 1 876.7 413.5 Source: China Agricultural Year Book 2005 Table 4 Changes of potash consumption from 1990 to 2004 in northwest China Province 1990 (,000t) 2004 (,000t) Increase (%) Inner Mongolia 345 1044 202.6 Shaanxi 679 1431 110.8 Gansu 375 724 93.1 Qinghai 53 66 24.5 Ningxia 116 276 137.9 Xinjiang 395 992 151.1 National 25903 46295 79.0 % of national total 7.6 9.8 Source: China Agricultural Yearbook 1991 and 2005