In China,drought is the main contravariant that restricts the sustainable agricultural developmemt in arid and semi-arid areas. The ways of the effective usage of rainwater for the sustainable agricultural development and the recent achievements both in theory and practical techniques are discussed. Through analyses to the relevant problems, the results suggest that the strategical acts for sustainable agricultural development in arid and semiarid areas are developing and improving rainwater utilization techniques, establishing the technical systems and speeding up the transformation from research achievements to practical productive forces.