SHIJIAZHUANG -- Zhao Zhihan knows he is bound to lose money if he plants corn instead of the rice paddy as he has done in the past.

However, he understands that he has to make the change because it will help safeguard the water supply for Beijing, the host city for next year's Olympic Games.

Zhao, who is almost 70 years old, is from the Ciyingzi Village, Chicheng County, Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province, a close neighbor of the Chinese capital.

The village, about 200 kilometers north of Beijing, is next to the Heihe, one of several rivers serving as a drinking water source for Beijing, a metropolis of 17 million people.

For years, Zhao and his fellow villagers, as well as tens of thousands of others living in Chicheng and the neighboring counties of Luanping and Fengning in Chengde City, have been taking advantage of the rivers to plant rice paddies to make their living.

At the beginning of this year, the villagers were encouraged to turn to drought-tolerant corn rather than  drought-sensitive paddies in efforts to save water for thirsty Beijing.

"The Olympics is very important, of course. We villagers all know that," Zhao said. "We understand the government."

"But we'll lose income if we plant corn. That's a problem."

One Chinese mu of cropland can yield about 500 kilograms of rice or corn. However, one kg rice can sell for three yuan (40 U.S. cents) while one kg of corn only sells at 1.4 yuan, he explained.

To compensate the farmers losses, the Beijing municipal government signed an agreement with the Hebei Provincial Government in October last year that promised an allowance of 450 yuan per mu for farmers who switch to planting corn.

"Even so, our farmers will still suffer losses," said Wu Yaorui, head of the Ciyingzi Township that administers Ciyingzi Village.

"We're now considering restructuring agriculture to help farmers increase their income, such as in planting greenhouse vegetables," he said.

Wu Minglu, an expert on wetland studies with the Hebei Provincial Department of Forestry, said the "corn for paddy" project would conserve up to 100 million tons of water annually for Beijing, excluding losses from river water evaporation and water flow.

NO MORE WELLS, VEGETABLES TO CONSERVE "WATER TOWER" FOR BEIJING