Photo taken on Feb. 7, 2008, shows raindrops on wheat seedlings in Zhongmou County, Henan Province, central China. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>
BEIJING, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- China will divert water from its two longest rivers to irrigate the drought-stricken farmland, a Ministry of Water Resources (MWR) official told media Saturday.
Water in the country's longest river, the Yangtze River, will be diverted north to the northern areas of east China's Jiangsu Province as temperature rises and water demand grows, said Zhang Zhitong, deputy chief of the MWR's flood control and drought relief office.
Sluices on north China's Inner Mongolian section of the Yellow River, the country's second longest river, will be opened to increase water supply for Henan and Shandong provinces downstream, Zhang was quoted by the China News Service as saying.
China has released more than 5 billion cubic meters of water from the Yellow River to fight drought that started to hit most of north China, including Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Shandong, Qinghai and Gansu, from November.
The drought is also affecting rice-growing Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces.
Because of little rain, waters that can be tapped from five major reservoirs on the Yellow River decreased by 3.4 billion cubic meters to 14.6 billion as of Thursday, official figures show.
Zhang said water supply for farmland and residents in some mountain areas will be more difficult if the drought continues.
China has declared the highest level of emergency in response to the rare drought, which had affected 161 million mu (10.7 million hectares) of crops, 4.37 million people and 2.1 million heads of livestock across the country as of Thursday.
The Ministry of Finance on Friday allocated 86.7 billion yuan (about 12.69 billion U.S. dollars) from its reserve to drought-hit areas in relief funds.
BEIJING, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have ordered all-out efforts to combat the severe drought in the country's vast wheat-growing area to ensure a good summer harvest, a State Council meeting was told Thursday.
The central government on Thursday decided to earmark another 300 million yuan (44 million U.S. dollars) as drought relief fund in additional to 100 million yuan already allocated. The fund will be used to buy agricultural machinery and other production materials.
BEIJING, Feb 5 (Xinhua) -- China raised the drought emergency class Thursday from level two to level one, the highest alert, in response to the worst drought to hit northern China in half a century, according to a State Council meeting.
Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have ordered all-out efforts to combat the severe drought in the country's vast wheat-growing area to ensure a good summer harvest, according to a State Council meeting held Thursday.
BEIJING, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- China, the world's biggest agricultural country in terms of farm population, might find it hard to bring in a good harvest this year, with a four-month drought tightening its grip on large sections of the country's northern half.
The drought has added to the woes of the nation's rural economy, which has been affected by falling commodity prices amid the global downturn. All these pressures will make it more difficult for China to stabilize grain production, increase farm incomes and expand rural markets.
BEIJING, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Lack of rainfall has led to severe drought in northern China, affecting more than 140 million mu (9.3 million hectares) of wheat, said the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) on Tuesday.
By February 2, 141 million mu wheat in six major grain production provinces, including Henan, Anhui, Shandong, Shanxi, Gansu and Shaanxi, were hit by drought, Agriculture Minister Sun Zhengcai said at a video conference called to coordinate drought relief efforts.
BEIJING, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Different levels of governments should collect strength to combat drought, which has crippled China's agriculture, said Vice Premier Hui Liangyu Tuesday.
BEIJING, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Severe drought in north China was expected to continue as no rain has been forecasted for the next ten days, the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) and the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) said Monday.
The ministries said the current situation remained grim and called for prolonged fight against the extreme drought that began last November.
