February 9, 2011

 

China steps up fight against drought

 

China is making all-out efforts to combat drought for a summer grain harvest while the worldwide abnormal weather has aroused concerns over grain supply.

 

The Chinese government on February 4 initiated a relief and assistance programme for eight drought-ravaged provinces, the Ministry of Agriculture said.

 

The government had implemented a grade II emergency response, meaning a 24-hour alert, daily damage reports, and the dispatching of experts and relief materials, according to the statement.

 

The ministry had sent teams to help with relief work in the provinces of Hebei, Shanxi, Jangsu, Anhui, Shandong, Henan, Shaanxi and Gansu.

 

The four-month drought had affected 35.1% of wheat crops (96.11 million mu or 6.4 million hectares), accounting for 21.7% of total farmland in the provinces, the statement said.

 

The wheat growing area in the eight provinces accounted for more than 80% of the country's total. The provinces have received little rainfall since October last year.

 

Any drought-caused reduction in grain output may undermine the government's top priority for 2011 - the stabilisation of prices.

 

China's central authorities in late January announced an ambitious water conservancy project development plan to raise China's ability to control flooding and drought.

 

Under the plan, the average annual government spending on such projects will double the 2010 level.

 

Investment was RMB200 billion (US$30.37 billion) last year and the amount would total RMB4 trillion (US$607 million) in the next 10 years, according to Chen Xiwen, director of the office for China Central Committee's Leading Group on Rural Work.

 

The extreme weather has enhanced market expectation for price hike of farm produces in the future. With upsurge of crop price on the international market, Chinese farm produce futures also witnessed a rise in both trade price and volume in January.