Photo taken on Feb. 2, 2009 shows the droughty reservoir in Yiyang County of Luoyang city, central China's Henan Province. (Chinese media Photo)
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BEIJING, Feb. 6 (Chinese media) -- Beneath a cloudless blue sky, the withered wheat grass barely 2 inches high slumped over gray, parched ground in Wei Liuding's field.
A mere spark would set the field alight at this time
of the year when the field should be green.
"I haven't seen such a severe drought in my life,"
said the 50-year-old farmer, dust curling around his feet.
At Wei's farm in Zhongmu County, Henan Province, the
water in the well "has become lower and lower since November," he said. "Now I
can only get water from seventy or eighty meters down."
If the wheat grass doesn't get enough water, Wei
won't have a harvest this summer. He will not be alone.
WATER COMES TO THE
FORE
Including Wei's land, 155 million mu (10.33 million
hectares) of crops had been affected by drought nationwide as of Thursday, of
which northern wheat crops accounted for 95 percent, the Flood Control and
Drought Relief Headquarters said.
About 43 percent of China's wheat is at risk.
The headquarters raised the drought emergency class
Thursday from Level II to Level I, the highest, in response to the worst drought
to hit northern China in half a century.
In the Yellow River region, the drought alert was
raised to red Friday, also the most severe level.
The China Meteorological Administration said Thursday
that the northern drought would persist through March and might even worsen.
Duan Aiming, the head of the Irrigation Research
Center of the Chinese Academy of Agriculture Sciences, said the drought had
"sounded an alarm" about water resources in northern China.
"As the need for water for domestic and industrial
use is rising, water for irrigation is under more stress," said Duan.
Data from the Development Research Center of the
State Council showed northern China produces 65 percent of the nation's crops
but has only 35 percent of the water. Further, water resources in the region
have contracted in recent years.
According to the National Population and Family
Planning Commission, China's population will reach 1.5 billion by 2030. In other
words, 100 million more tonnes of crops will need to be produced to feed another
200 million mouths. Northern China, with relatively abundant arable land, will
remain under pressure.
"This means we can no longer rely on the weather,"
said Ke Bingsheng, president of China Agricultural University. "To deal with
climate abnormalities, a growing water shortage, and the threat to food
security, we must speed the use of farming and irrigation methods that save
water."
CONSERVATION BECOMES
BOTTLENECK
Water from white hoses sprayed across the green wheat
field in Qianliu Village, Dezhou City, Shandong, where per capita water
resources are only 10 percent of the national level and more than 4 million mu
of wheat are lost to drought every year.
"It took me ten hours to water the field from the
well, but now I only spend five or six hours," said villager Zhang Shulin.
Spraying the field also saves 40 percent of the water he needs, by reducing
permeability and evaporation.
In Wangjinghe Village, Lingcheng Town in Dezhou,
farmers use drip irrigation to save the village 100,000 cubic meters of water
per year.
On average, widely used low-water irrigation
facilities in Dezhou cut the city's agricultural water use 30 percent and
increase crop yields 20 percent.
Although water-saving measures are used in northern
China, many mature technologies aren't popular because of the high cost and low
awareness of saving water, said Yu Fuliang, head of the Research Center for
Water Resources, the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research.
According to the Ministry of Water Resources, only 47
percent of China's nearly 1.83 billion mu farmland can be irrigated. The rest
must rely on precipitation.
Although water supplies are tight, the utilization
ratio of irrigation water in China is 45 percent on average, far below the world
average of 70 percent, said Xu Xiaoqing, deputy chief of the State Council's
Department of Agriculture.
"The farmland affected by drought in our country is
about 300 million to 400 million mu every year. Only with practical water-saving
irrigation methods can we break the bottleneck of agriculture development," said
Xu.
CHANGE TAKES
TIME
The National Framework for Medium- to Long-Term Food
Security, issued in November, stressed the development of water-saving
agriculture. It also proposed raising the utilization ratio of irrigation water
to 50 percent by 2010 and 55 percent by 2020.
Subsequently, in the first document of the year
issued jointly by the State Council and the Central Committee of the Communist
Party of China Sunday, authorities were urged to increase investment in
water-saving irrigation and expand high-efficiency irrigation skills.
Chen Xiwen, director of the Office of the Central
Leading Group on Rural Work, said: "The central government emphasized
water-saving agriculture. We have been making and issuing relevant policies and
measures."
But Chen said developing a whole new agriculture
system is a long-term project that requires both abundant investment and
cooperation by the government, farmers and consumers.
Chinese president, premier order all-out anti-drought efforts
BEIJING, Feb. 5 (Chinese media) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have ordered all-out efforts to combat the severe drought in the country's vast wheat-growing area to ensure a good summer harvest, a State Council meeting was told Thursday.
The central government on Thursday decided to earmark another 300 million yuan (44 million U.S. dollars) as drought relief fund in additional to 100 million yuan already allocated. The fund will be used to buy agricultural machinery and other production materials. Full story
China ramps up spending to blunt impact of prolonged drought
BEIJING, Feb. 5 (Chinese media) -- China, the world's biggest agricultural country in terms of farm population, might find it hard to bring in a good harvest this year, with a four-month drought tightening its grip on large sections of the country's northern half.
The drought has added to the woes of the nation's rural economy, which has been affected by falling commodity prices amid the global downturn. All these pressures will make it more difficult for China to stabilize grain production, increase farm incomes and expand rural markets. Full story
Drought threatens China wheat production
BEIJING, Feb. 3 (Chinese media) -- Lack of rainfall has led to severe drought in northern China, affecting more than 140 million mu (9.3 million hectares) of wheat, said the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) on Tuesday.
By February 2, 141 million mu wheat in six major grain production provinces, including Henan, Anhui, Shandong, Shanxi, Gansu and Shaanxi, were hit by drought, Agriculture Minister Sun Zhengcai said at a video conference called to coordinate drought relief efforts.Full story
China asks for more efforts to cope with severe drought
BEIJING, Feb. 3 (Chinese media) -- Different levels of governments should collect strength to combat drought, which has crippled China's agriculture, said Vice Premier Hui Liangyu Tuesday.
He urged efforts to give drought-relief work top priority.Full story
N China to face continuous drought, persistent efforts needed
BEIJING, Feb. 2 (Chinese media) -- Severe drought in north China was expected to continue as no rain has been forecasted for the next ten days, the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) and the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) said Monday.
The ministries said the current situation remained grim and called for prolonged fight against the extreme drought that began last November.Full story
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