Living Land Dries On

By YIN PUMIN

Living Land Dries On

By YIN PUMIN

China still faced the grim task of fighting a drought despite recent snowfalls and enhanced irrigation in major wheat growing regions, the country’s drought relief authorities said on February 12.

The drought was likely to continue to affect crops, as the weather is getting warmer and winter wheat needs large amounts of water when it is turning green, said Chen Lei, Minister of Water Resources and deputy chief of the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters (SFDH).

Since last October, eight provinces—Shandong, Henan, Hebei, Anhui, Shanxi,Shaanxi, Gansu and Jiangsu—have been affected by severe drought.

The eight provinces produce more than 80 percent of the country’s winter wheat.

On February 9, the SFDH issued a moderate drought alert.

As of February 13, a total of 7.22 million hectares of winter wheat farmland had been affected in the eight provinces, accounting for 39.6 percent of their total wheat-sown areas, said the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA).

A worst drought

On February 9-10, a light to moderate snow fell across most of the droughthit areas, including Shanxi, Henan, Jiangsu and Anhui. Most regions in north China and along the Yangtze and Huaihe rivers reported precipitation of less than 10 mm in the period.

On the morning of February 10, Beijing got its fi rst snow this winter, after 108 consecutive days without rain or snow.

Song Jisong, the municipal meteorological bureau’s chief weather forecaster, said the city’s longest winter drought occurred in the winter of 1970-1971, when there was no precipitation for 114 days. This winter drought is the second longest in 60 years.

Snowfalls starting on February 13 mainly concentrated in north China’s Hebei province and Beijing with precipitation of less than 5 mm.

But Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu were still experiencing severe droughts,said the National Meteorological Center.

“East China’s Shandong Province, the nation’s second-largest wheat producer, is suffering its most severe drought in six decades and has had only 12 mm of rain since September last year, 85 percent less than normal level,” Xinhua News Agency said on February 9.

More than half the 4 million hectares of wheat-growing land there have been hit by drought.

Even though 4,000 pumping stations are supplying water, the situation in the province is severe.

WATERING LIFE: A farmer waters a wheat field in Shangcai County, central China’s Henan Province on February 6. A prolonged drought since last October in the province might stretch into the spring farming season

China is making all-out efforts to fight severe drought

Data from the provincial meteorological bureau show the drought will be Shandong’s worst in 200 years if there is no signi fi cant precipitation before the end of February.

Also unable to shake off the dry season is central China’s Henan Province.

Similar to Shandong, it has seen its lowest rainfall in almost 60 years. Around 1.4 million hectares of wheat-growing land need water.

Guo Tiancai, a professor at Henan Agricultural University, said the winter drought in Henan might continue into spring if little snow or rain falls in February and March.

The unusual drought has even hit some places that traditionally enjoy a humid climate.

The northern part of Jiangsu Province has seen a sharp drop in rainfall this winter.

In north China’s Shanxi Province, 1.5 million hectares of farmland have been affected across more than 60 percent of the province’s wheat-producing areas. The drought has had an immediate impact on people living there as well, leaving more than 440,000 residents with dwindling drinking water supplies.

Recent snowfalls in north China were of limited help in alleviating drought in wheatgrowing regions and the country should keep on with its drought- fi ghting efforts, said Yu Zhenwen, an expert with the MOA.

“To effectively ease drought, the hardest-hit regions require at least 50 mm of precipitation. The latest snowfalls fall far short of that amount,” Yu said.

Sparing no efforts

Premier Wen Jiabao told a national teleconference on February 10 the drought had threatened the summer crop yield and called for measures—such as subsidizing farmers and ensuring irrigation—to be taken to guarantee a bumper harvest this year.

Wen said local authorities should monitor drought conditions, adopt measures to minimize the impact of drought on wheatgrowing regions, make preparations for spring plowing, provide technical services for farmers and strengthen field management.

More efforts should be made to strengthen irrigation and water conservancy construction, encourage farmers to build irrigation facilities, increase drought-fighting material reserves and promote water-ef fi cient irrigation throughout the country, he said.

Wen urged governments at all levels to increase funds to boost agricultural production. The Central Government had allocated 12.9 billion yuan ($1.89 billion) to support grain production and fi ght drought, he said.

China would also strengthen the regulation of farm produce markets and raise minimum rice purchase prices to boost farmers’ incomes, he said.

Before Wen made the remarks, the State Council, China’s cabinet, pledged on February 9 to boost grain production by raising minimum purchase prices of grain, subsidizing the purchase of anti-drought materials and adding funding for farm irrigation.

“The drought will severely impact the summer grain production if no measures are taken,” said Han Changfu, Minister of Agriculture.

Spring drought following the winter one would be a signi fi cant threat, he said.

In a bid to deal with the difficult problem the drought has caused, the MOA has called on local governments at all levels to strengthen their efforts to channel water to affected areas, enhance irrigation and ensure the availability of fertilizer.

It has also sent groups of experts to drought-hit provinces to help farmers mitigate damage.

Han ordered local agricultural officials to work to stabilize spring planting areas and ensure areas for grain planting will be equal to that of last year.

Local agricultural officials were also asked to strengthen supervision over market supply of agricultural materials to keep prices stable.

On February 11, the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) said it would establish an anti-drought and well-drilling operation headquarters and three sub-headquarters in north China, areas along the Yellow and Huaihe rivers and northwest China.

Also, China Geological Survey, an institution directly under the MLR, dispatched experienced technicians from its nine affiliated units to form three emergency squads and 12 emergency groups to assist local governments in fi nding water in those regions.

Further, the MLR sent geological survey teams from its nine af fi liated units and eight provinces, including Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou that suffered severe drought in early 2009, to the eight provinces.

The survey teams brought 100 sets of advanced geophysical prospecting instruments and 320 sets of drill machines and planned to dig 1,350 wells in the provinces to ease water shortages affecting people and livestock,especially those in mountainous areas, and to strengthen local irrigation.

The MLR had previously put in place a series of measures to relieve drought and fi nd water, such as making underground water layout maps and sending experts to droughthit regions to give technical guidance.

Meanwhile, authorities in drought-hit regions are reportedly taking steps to ensure thirsty fi elds are irrigated.

To combat the devastating drought,Shandong has allocated 800 million yuan ($117 million) in emergency funding and repaired and dug more than 30,000 irrigation wells.

To prevent heavy losses from the dry spell, Hebei has transferred 70 million cubic meters of water from the Yellow River and has reserved another 200 million cubic meters of water.

China National Radio quoted Li Qinglin,head of the province’s water resources bureau, as saying Hebei would bring in more water from other provinces and start up all irrigation facilities to water dry fi elds.

Shanxi has allocated 230 million yuan($33.67 million) to subsidize pumping stations and irrigation projects and another 50 million yuan ($7.32 million) to stabilize water prices for rural residents.

As of February 13,a total of 7.22 million hectares of winter wheat farmland had been affected in east,north and northwest China, accounting for 39.6 percent of the land sown in wheat

Grain security

On February 8, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) issued a warning over the impact of drought on China’s winter wheat harvest.

Wheat prices in China had been rising rapidly in the last few months, and average flour prices in the country rose more than 8 percent in January from the previous two months, the FAO said.

China is the world’s biggest wheat producer, with output exceeding 110 million tons last year, according to the China National Grain and Oils Information Center.

Traders believed an erosion of the nation’s self-sufficiency could have a major impact on the global wheat market, driving up prices, said Chinese agricultural experts.

But they believe it is still too early to predict a decrease in the country’s wheat output.

“Although the latest snow has not been heavy, the recent snowfalls will cumulatively play an active role in mitigating the droughts,” said Lu Bu, a researcher on agricultural resources at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. “We can still expect wheat harvests if the major growing regions have suf fi cient rainfall next month.”

Yao Jingyuan, chief economist at the National Bureau of Statistics, said it still needed more time to assess the current weather’s impact on grain prices.

China’s grain output achieved the seventh consecutive year of growth in 2010,along with adequate stockpiles, laying a crucial foundation for price stability, he said.

Data from the National Development and Reform Commission show current grain reserves are equal to about 40 percent of total grain consumption in 2010, which is thought to be enough to satisfy domestic demand and avoid a price hike.

Meanwhile, the efforts of farmers and local governments to mitigate the impact of the drought, coupled with a large inventory of grain, are also expected to reduce that risk.

“We have the con fi dence and capability to ensure ef fi cient supply of agricultural products, particularly grain, and to keep overall price levels basically stable,” said Premier Wen at the national teleconference.