Droughts Continue

Droughts Continue

Around 2.2 million people are facing a shortage of drinking water due to a severe drought in parts of central, south and east China, w ith cities starting to run low on supplies.

Rainfall is down by between 20 to 90 percent compared with the same period last year in the provinces of Henan, Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui and Shaanxi.

Continuing droughts started to dry out w inter wheat producing areas such as Shandong and Henan provinces last November, affecting some 4 million hectares of cropland.

The dry weather has affected w inter wheat crops in 17 percent of China’s wheat growing areas in the country’s northern breadbasket, and such weather is forecast to extend until spring of 2011.

Source:Xinhua News Agency