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China prepares for long fight on drought
Source: Xinhua |
March 31, 2010, Wednesday
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Online Edition
Online Edition
CHINA'S severe drought is still expanding, as a total of 116 million mu (about 7.73 million hectares) of arable land had been affected in China by yesterday, up from 114 million mu last Friday, said Liu Ning, vice minister of water resources.
The drought had a serious impact on the life of the locals and economic development, leaving 24.25 million people and 15.84 million farm animals short of water, he said at a press conference in Beijing today.
Liu attributed the drought in southwest China to inadequate water storage facilities, inefficient use of water and declining river flows as well as the more obvious factors of less rainfall and higher temperatures than normal.
Recent rainfall, brought by cloud seeding in the southwestern regions, possibly had provided some relief to farm production, but drinking water remained a problem, he said.
"We should be fully prepared for a longer and more serious drought," he said, as the rainy season does not usually start in China's southwestern regions till late May.
Liu also noted that northern China was starting to see signs of drought, but conditions were far less serious than those of last year's drought in the north.
China's grain production would not be badly affected by the drought in southwest regions, he added, as the country's major grain production bases lay in the northern areas.
The arable land in the drought-hit southwest regions stood at 344 million mu, of which 260 million mu was used for grain production, accounting for only 16 percent of the nation's total, according to Liu.
As of the end of 2008, China had about 1.83 billion mu of arable land.
The drought had a serious impact on the life of the locals and economic development, leaving 24.25 million people and 15.84 million farm animals short of water, he said at a press conference in Beijing today.
Liu attributed the drought in southwest China to inadequate water storage facilities, inefficient use of water and declining river flows as well as the more obvious factors of less rainfall and higher temperatures than normal.
Recent rainfall, brought by cloud seeding in the southwestern regions, possibly had provided some relief to farm production, but drinking water remained a problem, he said.
"We should be fully prepared for a longer and more serious drought," he said, as the rainy season does not usually start in China's southwestern regions till late May.
Liu also noted that northern China was starting to see signs of drought, but conditions were far less serious than those of last year's drought in the north.
China's grain production would not be badly affected by the drought in southwest regions, he added, as the country's major grain production bases lay in the northern areas.
The arable land in the drought-hit southwest regions stood at 344 million mu, of which 260 million mu was used for grain production, accounting for only 16 percent of the nation's total, according to Liu.
As of the end of 2008, China had about 1.83 billion mu of arable land.
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