China province Hit By Worst Drought, Warning On Wheat

Sui-Lee Wee and Niu Shuping PlanetArk 25 Jan 11;

Most of China's wheat-growing areas in the north are suffering from drought with some seeing no rain for more than three months while the second most important wheat province of Shandong is facing its worst drought in a century.

Experts say that if the drought goes on over coming weeks, with no effective measures to combat it, the winter wheat crop, which accounts for more than 90 percent of the country's wheat harvest, could be hurt significantly.

Guo Tiancai, deputy chief of the agriculture ministry's wheat experts group, said the dry weather had not hurt the winter crop for now, as earlier irrigation was providing enough moisture.

"But as the temperature warms up in spring and wheat grows faster, any measures which are not in place during the period could cause big losses to the final yield ... immeasurable losses."

He urged authorities and farmers to ensure crops are watered at the appropriate time, with spring coming next month, adding the coming four months would be crucial for wheat. His speech was posted on the ministry's web site (www.moa.gov.cn).

In the Shandong cities of Linyi, Rizhao and Weifang, the dry spell has lowered reservoirs so dramatically that authorities are using fire trucks to deliver daily drinking water to residents, the China Daily reported.

Shandong's provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters has warned that the number of people affected could rise to 300,000 if precipitation does not come soon, the newspaper added.

More than 240,000 people are facing drinking water shortages.

Over the weekend, Premier Wen Jiabao toured another drought-hit region, the central province of Henan and also the country's top wheat area and pledged that the government would build more water-saving projects this year, the Communist Party mouthpiece the People's Daily said.

Drought has affected winter wheat crops in 17 percent of China's wheat-growing areas in the country's northern bread basket, and dry weather is forecast to go on for some time, the government said last month.

Meanwhile, parts of southern China have been hit by freezing rain and heavy snow, affecting crops and causing traffic disruptions.

A cold snap with freezing rain and snow is likely to hit many parts of southwestern China in the middle of this week, the People's Daily said, citing weather forecasters.

The extreme weather comes amid a government campaign to fight rising food costs -- the main driver of Chinese inflation -- which have picked up again in recent weeks.

The capital Beijing, still without snow this winter, looks likely to break a 60-year record for the latest date for its first snowfall, with little prospect of snow in the week ahead, the People's Daily said.

(Editing by Robert Birsel)

China drought threatens water supplies: media
Yahoo News 24 Jan 11;

BEIJING (AFP) – A months-long dry spell across northern China is threatening drinking water supplies and crops, and more bone-dry conditions are expected, state media said Monday.

The capital Beijing has had no significant precipitation in more than three months, the longest such spell in the city in 40 years, the Beijing Times said.

The dry conditions in Shandong province along the northeastern coast are the worst in more than 60 years and have left hundreds of thousands of people facing drinking water shortages, the China Daily reported.

Northern China has for years battled a water shortage that experts say is caused by global warming, drought, and surging consumption, especially among the tens of millions of people who live in Beijing and booming adjacent areas.

About 90 percent of winter wheat seedlings around the sprawling city of 20 million have wilted dangerously, the Beijing Times quoted the city weather bureau's climate chief Chen Dagang as saying.

City reservoirs that had dwindled for years were expected to be particularly hard-hit this year by the lack of replenishing winter snows and no end in sight to the dry conditions, it quoted Beijing's water resources bureau as saying.

Rainfall in heavily-populated Shandong has dropped by 86 percent since October and as many as 300,000 people could soon face water shortages, up from the current 240,000, the China Daily said, quoting drought relief officials.

In some areas, local authorities have sent fire trucks to deliver drinking water to citizens, it said.

Authorities have launched a project to divert water from a tributary of the Yangtze River -- China's longest -- in the central part of the country to help alleviate the north's water woes.

Water was originally due to begin flowing from the central line to Beijing by 2010 but was postponed to 2014 largely due to the issues arising from the resettlement of people affected by the huge undertaking, media reports have said.

Crop warning over China drought
BBC News 24 Jan 11;

A prolonged dry spell in parts of northern, central and eastern China is threatening both crops and water supplies, Chinese state media says.

Shandong province is experiencing its driest weather for 60 years.

Half the wheat-growing land there is affected, while almost a quarter of a million people face drinking water shortages, the China Daily said.

Beijing has also been experiencing its longest dry spell for more than 30 years, another state daily said.

The Chinese capital has had no significant rainfall for three months, the Beijing Times reported.

Analysts say this drought is likely to put further pressure on food prices, which have been rising sharply for months.

'Big losses'

Earlier this month, the authorities pledged $15bn (£9.4bn; 98.6bn yuan) in support to help farmers cope with the effect of the drought.

Guo Tiancai, a wheat expert at the agriculture ministry, said that although measures to date were providing adequate irrigation for the winter wheat crop, further drought would be damaging.

"As the temperature warms up in spring and wheat grows faster, any measures which are not in place during the period could cause big losses to the final yield... immeasurable losses," he wrote in a notice on the ministry's website.

In Shandong, many areas had seen no rain for four months, the provincial water bureau said. Fire trucks were being used to deliver water to 240,000 people and 107,000 livestock.

The northern provinces of Shanxi and Hebei have also experienced lower than average rainfall, while the central province of Henan is facing drought.

Visiting Henan at the weekend, Premier Wen Jiabao called for more investment in technologies aimed at reducing the impact of drought, China Daily said.

Forecasters say the dry weather could continue well into the spring.