The area's worst drought in 50 years has affected nearly 2.1
million hectares of cropland, resulting in a loss of nearly 5
million tons of grain in southwest China's Sichuan Province.
To reduce losses, the provincial government is asking local
governments at all levels to help farmers plant more late-autumn
crops to make up for the shortfall.
The crops include sweet potatoes, yams and beans, Pan Xiaoru, an
official with the provincial department of agriculture, told
China Daily yesterday.
According to an emergency circular issued yesterday by the
general office of the provincial government, Sichuan will have to
plant 1 million hectares of late-autumn crops, 133,333 hectares
more than last year, to reduce its losses from the severe
drought.
The provincial government has allocated a relief fund surpassing
20 million yuan (US$2.5 million) to different parts of the province
so that each county's agricultural bureau can buy materials
essential to the planting of late-autumn crops.
The materials include seeds of late-autumn crops, chemical
fertilizers and pesticides, Pan said.
To help villagers in drought-afflicted regions plant the crops,
all employees in the province's agricultural sector will temporary
give up weekends and holidays, according to Fu Zhikang, director of
the provincial department of agriculture, in an interview with
China Daily yesterday.
More than 1,500 teams consisting of 10,212 officials and
technicians from the provincial agricultural sector have gone to
drought-afflicted regions to direct relief operations and plant
crops, Fu said.
Since last Saturday, more rain has fallen in different parts of
Sichuan, mitigating the heat wave that has lasted more than one
month in the western and southern parts of the province.
But drought is still severe in most parts of eastern and central
Sichuan, Fu added.
It is common to see cracks in paddy fields, withered potatoes,
rice that has become weeds and corn that has turned to firewood in
eastern and central parts of the province, said Zhang Dong, an
official with the Sichuan Provincial Disaster Relief Office.
According to the office, the month-long heat wave has resulted
in droughts in 112 of Sichuan's 181 counties. Nearly 10 million
people have difficulty in securing drinking water.
The drought has affected nearly 2.1 million hectares of crops in
the province, 311,333 hectares of which will have no crops
whatsoever this year.
The drought has caused losses of nearly 8.9 billion yuan (US$1.1
billion), close to 8 billion yuan (US$1 billion) of which will be
shouldered by farmers themselves, the office said.
Neighboring Chongqing has also suffered from drought.
(China Daily August 24, 2006)