China called off its grade II drought emergency response on Tuesday as the severe drought in its southwestern regions eased after recent rain.
The worst drought in 50 years in the southwestern province of Yunnan has damaged local diversity, provincial forestry officials said.
The severe drought in southwest China has broken after six falls of rain in the past month, Chen Zhenlin, spokesman with the China Meteorological Administration (CMA), said here Wednesday.
High temperatures and a shortage of rainfall continue to plague the drought-stricken Yunnan province, reducing crop production by 60 percent.
The province welcomed a heavy rainfall Monday and Tuesday after an eight-month record drought.
Local governments should step up efforts to ensure market supplies in the drought-stricken southwestern areas, China's Ministry of Commerce said here Monday.
While drought was lingering southwest China, snow, frost and heavy rains which were rarely seen in the same period of previous years hit east and north China.
Farmer Zhu Chaosong had just a week to plough two hectares of land and plant his annual potato crop on the Guizhou plateau this year. It normally takes him about two weeks but seven days' leave was all the bosses at the mine where he works would allow.
Chinese meteorologists have admitted falling short of public expectations in their failure to forecast the long-lasting drought that has left almost 20 million people thirsty in southwest China, The People's Daily reported Thursday.
Some rural families in southwest China's Yunnan province may face food shortages if the drought persists, as their home rations can only support them for one to two months.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao went on an inspection tour of a prefecture in the drought-hit southwest Guizhou Province Saturday to Monday, meeting people there, seeing the dry conditions first hand and discussing relief measures with officials.
The drought plaguing southwestern China would continue and the situation was looking quite grave for this month as less rain and higher temperatures were forecast for the region, a senior Chinese official said.
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