February 10, 2009

China's Ministry of Science and Technology (MST) has listed 20 types of drought-resistant wheat seeds to help farmers combat the drought in large parts of the country.

 

The ministry's agriculture department chief, Wang Xueqin told local media that though the seeds have been available in local markets, many farmers still do not know about them.

 

Wang said that is why the ministry has decided not only to promote the seeds, but also provide technological help to farmers who buy them.

 

He said farmers who have lost wheat seedlings to the drought can sow the drought-resistant seeds, which cost largely the same as the common varieties, and reduce their losses.

 

MST minister Wan Gang said the government will provide farmers with 50 kinds of new seed technologies and relative services as part of the free drought relief work.

 

But despite the efforts it would be difficult for the country to reach last year's wheat output level of 109 million tonnes, the highest since 2003.

 

The worst drought to hit the country in more than half a century has hurt the livelihood of people in eight provinces - Hebei, Shanxi, Anhui, Jiangsu, Henan, Shandong, Shaanxi and Gansu, and has since damaged or destroyed crops on about 10.2 million hectares.

 

China Agricultural University professor, Wang Zhimin said the crops in drought-hit regions may not survive the unexpected drops in temperature.

 

Wang said many farmers have been using wheat seeds with a short growth period because of the warm winters in recent years, but such seeds are usually not cold-resistant, unlike drought-resistant varieties which are stronger.

 

He said although local governments have raised their subsidy levels for farmers to help them buy more irrigation and water-saving equipment, farmers could still face heavy losses.

 

He added that it is too early to say if the drought will influence the price of wheat this year because that it also depends on the total output of the grain.

 

Agriculture minister Sun Zhengcai said on Sunday (Feb 8) irrigation covered more than half of the wheat fields in the drought-hit provinces and 5.6 million hectares of them have been irrigated in provinces such as Henan, Anhui, Shandong and Hebei.