Sinking headache for farmers

A farmer looks down at a sinkhole in a wheat field in Wenquan village, Lianyuan city, Hunan province on Jan 12, 2013. Over twenty sinkholes have appeared in the village between September 2012 and January this year. They have destroyed five wells, infected the irrigation of of 33.3 hectares of farmland and cut off water supplies to nearly 4,000 villagers. The local government said the over exploitation of coal in recent years is to blame. The government is making efforts to solve the problem and offer compensation to villagers. [Guo Guoquan/Asianewsphoto]

Villagers look at a sinkhole in a wheat field in Wenquan village, Hunan province on Jan 12, 2013. [Guo Guoquan/Asianewsphoto]