DROUGHT RAVAGES CHINESE FARMLAND
A prolonged drought is ravaging more
than 13 mln hectares (32 mln acres) of farmland in China and
has cut water levels in major rivers to record lows, the China
Daily said.
    The drought will affect both the summer harvest in the
south and the spring sowing under way in the north.
    It said the most seriously affected areas are Guangdong,
Jiangxi, Hunan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Hebei, Shanxi and Guangxi.
    It said that, despite bigger snowfalls this year than last
in Hebei and Shanxi and more rainfall forecast for some areas,
the drought will not abate in the near future.
    This is because the drought has lasted so long that slight
increases in rainfall are not enough to alleviate it, the paper
said.
    It said that the water level on the middle reaches of the
Yangtze has fallen to its lowest level in more than 110 years,
so that more than 100 ports along it cannot receive ships.
    Water level of other major rivers, including the Zhujiang,
Qiantangjiang and Minjiang, have also been affected by the
drought, the paper added but gave no more details.
 REUTER
