The devastating drought that has plagued the drainage area of the
Yellow River in North China shows no signs of abating.
More than a million hectares of farm land in the Inner Mongolia
Autonomous Region is short of irrigation water, which China's
second longest river used to supply.
About 300,000 farmers are in urgent need of water to restore their
arid land, a water resources official from the region said.
In
a bid to salvage something from the increasingly desperate
situation, local farmers have been urged to adopt various measures
to tackle the severe drought. Among those are the planting of crops
which need less irrigation, improving water-saving methods and the
tapping of more underground water supplies .
But even if these measures are taken and prove successful, the
authorities predict that a water shortage of about 600-800 million
cubic meters will still remain.
And there is little let-up on the immediate horizon according to
experts who predict average temperatures next month to be higher
than they have been over the past 30 years and rainfall will be
scarce across the country.
"Drought caused by the El Nino phenomenon might last for the whole
spring this year, which will bring another thirsty season for North
China," said Wang Zhanggui, a leading researcher with the National
Environmental Forecasting Center.
Another badly hit area is coastal Shandong Province, which relies
on the Yellow River for much of its water. To help those in this
important fertile area, the local government has handed out 180
million yuan (US$21.8 million) in relief funds and supplied more
than 9,090 kilograms of grain from government storehouses to help
the drought-stricken province's 9 million farmers get through the
winter.
Officials with Shandong Civil Affairs Department said various
levels of government in the province are raising money to help the
stricken farmers. And the large scale relief fund to farmers has
been extended in advance of the Spring Festival, the Chinese lunar
New Year, which falls on February 1.
Grain lending, after trials in some areas, has begun in earnest in
some cities in the west of the province. Those who are given loans
can repay the grain in the summer or autumn when their crops
ripen.
Statistics from the local water resources bureau show that the
amount of rain that has fallen since last August has been the least
in 50 years.
More than 48 million people and 5 million hectares of arable land
have been affected in some way. More than 3 million hectares have
been seriously blighted, with one-third yielding nothing last
year.
The central and western parts of the province, including Heze,
Jining, Liaocheng, Jinan, Zibo, Binzhou and Dongying, are the most
parched.
Recently, the Ministry of Land and Resources has urged the relevant
government departments to "get ready'' for the planned anti-drought
and irrigation-system construction project.
Under this scheme local governments are required to conduct
hydrological exploration and supervision and draw up emergency
regional water-supply plans.
Armed with the data, local departments can help drought-stricken
regions drill new wells. Meanwhile, a campaign to protect water
resources will be launched to avoid over exploitation and
pollution.
(China Daily January 30, 2002)