Severe drought threatens spring ploughing
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-04-04 00:45

Persistent drought is threatening the spring ploughing season across China, affecting 12 million hectares of arable land, 9.38 million people and livestock numbering 8.9 million, according to reports released by the Beijing-based State Flood-Control and Drought Relief Headquarters (SFCDRH) yesterday.

A woman in Longhua District, Haikou the capital of China's southernmost province of Hainan, looks on Friday at her crops, which have been ruined by the drought affecting the island since last summer. The drought has hit 180,000 hectares of crops on some 43 per cent of the province's cultivated land. More than 291,000 people are also experiencing some difficulty in obtaining drinking water. [newsphoto]

In South China, farmers are currently transplanting rise seedlings while in the North, the wheat crop is entering a critical stage of growth.

All are under threat due to a prolonged dryspell lasting since autumn, according to the SFCDRH.

Two teams of experts have been dispatched by the organization to drought-stricken provinces armed with drought tackling tips to help secure supplies of water for drinking and irrigation.

Meanwhile, sources from the SFCDRH said they were consulting with the Ministry of Finance over this year's allocation of aid for the worst hit areas.

Vast stretches of cropland is desperately parched due to inadequate irrigation from dry rivers and reservoirs, according to local media in the affected areas.

Worse still is the lack of drinking water in a number coastal provinces with millions left without a regular supply.

South China's Hainan, once a water rich province with annual precipitation exceeding 1,400 millimetres, is in the throes of its worst drought in 50 years. No rain-bringing typhoons have struck since last autumn, worsening the situation.

Water levels in Hainan's 11 medium-sized reservoirs have reached their dead water level, meaning no water can flow into surrounding farmland.

More than 930 small reservoirs and locally-built caches have dried up, affecting the drinking water supplies of about 900,000 people and 200,000 livestock.

And over half of Hainan's cropland lacks water for irrigation.

Neighbouring Guangdong is also suffering after being hit by a salt tide over winter. A salt tide occurs when salty water washes up rivers from river mouths because of low water levels caused by drought.

In North China's Shanxi Province, drought is threatening at least 560,000 hectares of cropland. There is only 860 million cubic metres of water stored in major Shanxi reservoirs, down 200 million cubic metres from a usual year.

In Northwest China's Gansu Province, more than 350,000 people and 380,000 livestock do not have enough drinking water due to a lack of effective precipitation over the past two months.

Facing a worsening spring drought, the central government has called on local authorities to do their utmost to fight back and take countermeasures to ensure a successful spring ploughing season.

"Insuring spring ploughing against drought is of vital importance for China to stabilize this year's grain yield and help farmers increase their incomes," Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu said during an inspection tour from March 23 to 27 through Hainan and Guangdong.

E Jingping, secretary-general of the SFCDRH, has asked local governments to renovate emergency water supply projects and put them into use to ensure there is an adequate supply of water for drinking and irrigation.

Wang Shucheng, minister of water resources, has also urged local governments to do more to encourage people to save water.

Yesterday, authorities in Hainan and Shanxi were reported to have allocated 25 million yuan (US$3 million) and 10 million yuan (US$1.204) respectively to their drought-hit areas.

Hundreds of technicians have been sent to rural communities in Sichuan, Qinghai and Yunnan provinces to provide farmers with on-the-spot anti-drought services, Xinhua reported.

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