Drought threatens Chinese wheat crop

Low rainfall in the north has put nearly half of the country’s harvest at risk

A severe drought in northern China


…Sun Zhengcai, the agriculture minister, blamed low rainfall since October for the problems. The meteorological administration says no rain is forecast over the next week.

But environmental campaigners warned the lack of rainfall had merely exacerbated a long term problem in a naturally dry region where consumption has soared, thanks to intensive agriculture, industry and a rising and increasingly urbanised population.

Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs and author of China’s Water Crisis, said that to have more than 100 rainless days was a record in recent decades.

But he added: “Water use in the region is not sustainable. We have seen rivers running dry because too much water has been diverted for farming and increasingly for urban and industrial use. We have seen the water table dropping steadily over the last three decades. Obviously this kind of drought adds insult to injury.”

Guardian