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Farmers battling worst drought in decades

By Hu Yinan (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-02-09 14:06

Residents like Wang, who live on plains where water has never been a real problem, perhaps do need the ubiquitous government banners that read "Meteorological sources say there won't be rain in nearly a month", and "Irrigation is the only way to ensure summer harvest" to be reminded that Mother Nature isn't always on the gentle side.

Villager Gao Guobin checks on dried rape plants in Pingdingshan city, Henan Province. [China Daily/Hu Yinan]

But all those who live in the deep terrains a dozen kilometers down southwest are born to know right from wrong. Here, in Liwuzhuang and a handful of other villages in Bao'an township, water has been a headache for more than three decades.

"All seven small local reservoirs were built in the late 1950s, when we could still grow rice here. But one broke after another after the Reform and Opening Up, and nobody took care of them," said village Party chief Gao Hai.

"The nearest reservoir's sluice gate has been broken for 30 years. If it was fixed, we could've irrigated all of our 3,250 mu of crops three times," he said.

"But now, five of the seven reservoirs are dried up, and so are all five of our main riverways."

Local residents have neither tap water nor water from wells that are as deep as 70 to 80 meters. Drinking water has to be bought in from a nearby village for 50 yuan (US$7.3) per three tons.

"We have to ensure drinking water first," said villager Gao Guobin. "Plus, it's no use irrigating the fields now anyway… rain won't be a cure anymore here."

"A stretch of normal wheat has about 20 rootstalks. But even the good ones here now have only two to three left," he said.

Like many in Liwuzhuang, the 60-year-old's 13 mu of crops are all dried up. People have given up on saving the fields and returned to work – mostly as migrant labor across the country. Those who lost their jobs in the deepening financial crisis, too, have left for the cities again.

All across the countryside, trees are being planted atop dry wheat and rape plants as villagers seek for desperate alternatives.

About 2.8 million hectares of wheat fields in Henan have been hit by the drought, including 470,000 hectares that are severely damaged, according to Xinhua.

The dry weather had led to water shortages affecting 420,000 people and 90,000 heads of livestock across the province.

Henan produces one-tenth of China's crops.

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