May 25, 2009

China's Henan Province, the country's leading grain production region, could receive its sixth consecutive summer grain bumper harvest despite the severe drought in the beginning of the year, Xinhua news agency learned from the Henan Provincial Department of Agriculture on Friday (May 22).

The announcement was important as Henan produces a quarter of China's wheat output. According to Zhu Mengzhou, head of the department, Henan's summer grain output this year will not be lower than that of last year following an initial investigation. 

In the summer of 2008, Henan harvested 30.6 million tonnes of grain, with the majority being wheat. About 78.9 million mu, or 99.5 percent of the province's land is used to grow wheat.

From October 2008 through February, dry weather persisted in most parts of north China. In Henan, 55 million mu of farmland had been affected and about 3.6 million mu of newly seeded wheat withered.

The province spent nearly RMB1.47 billion (US$215 million) in drought relief efforts, such as watering farmland. The local government also spent an additional RMB1.3 billion (US$190 million) on building new irrigation projects.

The local agriculture department also sent 13,794 agronomists to 48,000 villages to offer technical guidance for farmers in irrigation, fertiliser application and pest control.