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Drought Seen As Grave Threat to China's Grain Harvests
drought that has stricken many parts of China poses a ``grave threat'' to grain production, state media reported Friday.
Agriculture Minister Sun Zhengcai urged local officials to find more irrigation sources and help farmers plant hardier crops such as corn and potatoes, the China Daily newspaper reported.
Hot and dry weather has affected large swaths of farmland in many parts of China, particularly in the northeast, south and east. More than 7.5 million people and 5 million livestock have suffered from a lack of drinking water.
Drought has hit about 110 million hectares (270 million acres) of arable land, according to the Office of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.
Sun said during a tour of Jiangxi province, where 866,000 hectares (2.1 million acres) of crops have been affected, that the conditions pose a ``grave threat'' to the autumn harvest, the China Daily reported.
The drought-stricken areas are key grain production bases, Sun said.
China leads the world in consumption of rice and wheat. In the past, the country has satisfied nearly 100 percent of its own grain demand for the sake of national security. It was not clear whether the drought would force Beijing to turn to imports.
Sun said growing crops like corn and potatoes _ commonly used for pig feed _ could boost pig farming, which would alleviate a recent shortage of pork, China's staple meat.
Pork prices were up 74.6 percent in June from the same month last year, state media have reported. Shortages were caused by farmers' reluctance to raise pigs due to high feed costs and low wholesale prices, as well as an outbreak of blue-ear disease, which has forced the destruction of thousands of pigs.
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Fri August 10, 2007 09:33 EDT
BEIJING (AP)