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Beijing (AFP) March 2, 2011 China has said that snow and rain in the country's northern wheat-growing regions over the past week had helped to ease a crippling drought that had sparked fears about rising global food prices. "The drought in most of the country's winter wheat-growing regions has eased considerably after the widespread precipitation," the agriculture ministry said in a statement dated Tuesday. The ministry added the situation in some provinces was "basically resolved". "Life-saving" snow and rain of up to 40 millimetres (1.5 inches) fell in north China late last month during the "crucial" growing period for parched crops, it said. By Monday, a total of 2.5 million hectares (6.2 million acres) were still affected, according to the government drought relief headquarters -- far less than the 7.7 million hectares that were at risk a month ago. The dry spell has afflicted China's wheat heartland for more than a month, causing mounting concern abroad that world commodity prices would soar if the country were to buy a large amount of the grain overseas due to a crop failure. China is the largest producer and consumer of wheat in the world. Beijing has earmarked 13 billion yuan ($2 billion) to combat the drought and has announced measures including diverting water to affected areas and constructing emergency wells and irrigation facilities. Despite the apparent improvement, the agriculture ministry warned the task to secure a good harvest remained "arduous" due to the lengthy drought and the fact that the affected regions still needed more rain in the coming weeks.
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Drought rattles farmers in eastern ChinaBeishangping, China (AFP) Feb 25, 2011 Yu Ruicheng's weathered face creases with worry as she stands on her dry wheat field in eastern China, where a record drought is threatening to send soaring global food prices even higher. "If it doesn't rain next month, we won't harvest anything," the 62-year-old farmer says, crouching down and sifting parched soil through her fingers, pointing to dried-up wheat shoots scattered across her ... read more |
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