Drought threatens chinese farmers
By Jet Hermida on Feb 12, 2009 in Food Security, News Clippings, Rural Poverty in SEA
Luoyang, China (CNN) — Fifty-year-old farmer Du Jianmin says if it doesn’t rain soon in his corner of northern China, his winter wheat crops — which his village of 120 people relies on for food for the year — will die.
Henan province is suffering one of China’s worst droughts in 50 years. Henan province is suffering one of China’s worst droughts in 50 years. One well is rock dry in Luoyang in Henan province, a now parched area that is typically filled with one wheat field after another, and the remaining one is so low that it can provide drinking water only through March.
“This is the worst drought I’ve ever seen,” Du, who has been farming in Henan for decades, told CNN. “We only have enough water for a month.”
“It’s up to destiny.”
The story of Du’s village is one playing itself out across parts of northern China. It is the country’s worst drought in five decades, threatening crops in at least 12 provinces. More than 3.5 million people and some 1.7 million livestock are facing water shortages, officials said.
Chinese media say the total area affected has reached 1,370 million hectares (3,385 million acres), including the wheat-producing areas in Henan, Anhui and Shandong provinces. Northern and central China have had little precipitation since November. Many places have not had rainfall for more than 100 days.
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