No Relief For China
10 February 2009 Dry weather will continue in China’s major wheat producing regions, but reservoirs have enough water to meet demand in the peak period and timely irrigation could reduce the damage, a senior drought relief official said on Tuesday.
"Less rainfall (than average) is forecast in February and most areas in the north and northeast will have higher temperatures," said Er Jingping, secretary general of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters. "The drought situation could get worse.
"If the majority of winter wheat can be irrigated, that would effectively minimise the losses from the drought," Er said.
See the Beijing Climate Center for a precipitation map.
Er said farmers in the worst eight provinces out of the 15 provinces hit by dry weather had irrigated 9.6 million hectares of wheat, accounting for 60 percent of drought-hit areas.
The affected area he cited was larger than shown in official data released by the Agriculture Ministry. A statement posted on the ministry website on Tuesday said eight provinces were affected, covering a wheat growing area of 9.9 million hectares.
Er said a water storage in reservoirs in most of the provinces, including the largest wheat growing province of Henan, could meet demand for the peak irrigation period in April.
"Five provinces out of the eight worst-hit areas have pretty good water resources. If we can water the crop on time and expand watering areas, some of the seedlings could improve and give better yields."
Er declined to estimate losses on winter wheat but said the seedlings that may have the lowest yield accounted for 20 percent of total seedlings, 4.3 percentage points higher than last year.
China, the largest wheat producer and consumer, increased its total wheat crop by 3 percent last year, hitting a record 112.5 million tonnes. Winter wheat accounts for more than 90 percent of the country’s total wheat harvest.
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