Major wheat-producing areas fight against drought
China’s National Meteorological Center has maintained a yellow alert for drought in major wheat-producing areas, including Shaanxi and Henan, as dry conditions persist. While rainfall in Yunnan and Guangxi offers slight relief, critical irrigation is underway in affected provinces to protect crops during the vital grain-filling stage and ensure water supply for residents.
China’s National Meteorological Center (NMC) continued to issue yellow alert for drought as severe to extreme conditions persist in Shaanxi, Henan and other regions including major wheat-producing areas, while rainfall in Yunnan and Guangxi offers partial relief. Authorities are mobilizing irrigation efforts to mitigate crop damage and secure water supplies.
The NMC issued a yellow alert for meteorological drought on Sunday evening, reporting severe or worse drought conditions in Northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, Central China’s Henan Province and other regions based on real-time monitoring. Drought conditions have been observed in southwestern Shaanxi and southwestern Henan.
Over the next three days, light to moderate rain is forecasted in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province, and moderate to heavy rain in northern Chongqing, which will help alleviate the drought. However, other drought-affected regions will see little rain, leading to persistent or worsening drought.
The NMC reminded drought-stricken areas to closely monitor weather changes and conduct cloud-seeding operations when conditions permit to mitigate the drought. It also advised timely irrigation in water-deficient winter wheat regions in northern China and heightened vigilance against forest fires in certain areas, including Northwest China’s Gansu Province, where the meteorological fire risk remains high.
Drought-affected farmland is mainly concentrated in non-irrigated areas across eight provinces and regions, including Hebei, Shanxi, Hubei, Sichuan and Henan, said China’s Ministry of Water Resources, according to CCTV News on Thursday.
Local authorities have taken active measures to combat the drought.
The Huanghuai region, a major wheat-producing area, is currently in the grain-filling stage, a critical period for yield formation. Due to recent insufficient rainfall, Henan, Jiangsu Province and other regions are intensively irrigating crops, CCTV reported.
Prolonged high temperatures and drought have adversely affected wheat grain filling in Henan. Since May 1, the province has irrigated 16.59 million mu (1.1 million hectares) of farmland to replenish soil moisture, supporting late-stage grain filling and enhancing resistance to dry-hot winds. Alongside pest and disease control, farmers are being guided to apply fungicides and other agents to prevent pests, dry-hot winds and premature aging, the report said.
In Jiangsu, where wheat is planted across over 36 million mu, average precipitation this year has been more than 60 percent below normal. The province has mobilized over 700 emergency task forces, deploying 32,000 irrigation machines to cover 6.5 million mu of drought-affected farmland.
Yunnan has implemented measures to ensure drinking water security for 1.702 million people while adjusting agricultural structures to prioritize irrigation needs. Guangxi has adopted measures such as well-digging, water delivery and expanding water supply networks to meet residents’ water demands, CCTV reported.
Recent rainfall in the Pearl River Basin will help alleviate drought conditions in Yunnan and Guangxi, said Pearl River Water Resources Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources, reported CCTV.
While combating drought, China has largely completed this year’s autumn grain procurement. Over 300 million tons of newly harvested autumn grain have been purchased nationwide, accounting for 60 percent of the total autumn grain output, according to data released by the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration (NFSRA) on March 7, Xinhua reported.
Autumn grain, which makes up more than 70 percent of China’s annual grain production, primarily includes rice, corn and soybeans, which are grown across 13 major grain-producing regions. Since the autumn grain procurement began, the NFSRA has balanced market-driven purchases with policy-based stockpiling to maintain grain prices at reasonable levels, reported Xinhua.
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Source : Global Times
