June 8, 2011
Heavy rains ease China's drought-crippled farmland
Downpours over the weekend shrank the drought-hit area of China's farmland by 39% to 2.3 million hectares, including major rice-growing provinces of Hubei and Hunan, official media reports said Tuesday (Jun 7).
A drought that has gripped parts of central and southern China has retreated after the heavy rain, which brought deadly flooding to one area.
The China Meteorological Administration said that the rain was likely to continue on Wednesday, with torrential downpours expected to hit the eastern provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangxi.
It also warned that the rain could cause more floods in central and southern China, including regions emerging from the 100-day drought.
Parts of China along the Yangtze River basin and nearby have been enduring their worst drought in 50 years or more, with rainfall 40% to 60% less than normal over recent months, damaging crops and cutting power from hydroelectric dams.
Some dry areas enjoyed rains of up to 80 millimetres (3.1 inches) between Friday and Monday, reports said.
Over the same period, 230-250 mm of rain lashed the drought-stricken provinces of Hunan and Jiangxi, the meteorological administration said.
However, Jiangsu province on the east coast received only about three millimetres average rainfall, leaving parts of it still parched.
In the southwest province of Guizhou, the easing of drought swung to flooding. The death toll in Wangmo County had reached 21 by late Tuesday, with another 31 missing, local reports said.
Torrential rains there overwhelmed the local river and flooded the county seat and other towns, forcing 6,000 people to move.
The drought has damaged crops and exacerbated a power shortage by cutting power generation from dams, adding a slight bump to near three-year high consumer inflation.
The rains will add to farmers' hopes that they will be able to plant mid-year rice crops after early-season plantings suffered under the drought.
The drought has hit millions of hectares of farmland, mainly in the five provinces of Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Anhui and Jiangsu along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze.
Rice acreage in these five provinces accounts for nearly half of China's total rice area, official data show. But early-season rice accounted for only 16% of China's total rice output of 196 million tonnes last year.
