The worst drought in 50 years has affected large areas in central and north China since last November. If the disaster continues, grain output from summer wheat will significantly decline, as this is a crucial period for winter wheat to turn green. In such a populous country, this makes addressing the grain issue a vital task for the Chinese Government.

PARCHED: The Tiefosi Reservoir in Luoyang, capital of Henan Province, dries up in this picture taken February 2. The worst drought in 50 years has affected large parts of Henan Province since last November. The province's meteorological bureau issued the highest "red alert" due to the widespread disaster (ZHANG XIAOLI)

On February 10, a Beijing Review staff reporter visited central China's Henan Province, the No. 1 grain producer in China. Huaxian County, known as "a grain barn" in north Henan, plants 170,000 hectares of grain. The county leads the province in total grain output and in grain sales to the state. It won the title of "national advanced model county" in grain production for six years running.

Most wheat seedlings in Henan fields were turning green, though signs of yellow wheat seedlings remained.

County officials attribute the remarkably good results to a project finished before March 2008. The project introduced water from the Yellow River, the second longest river in China, to Dagong River in Huaxian, and then to irrigate most of the county's wheat fields.

"Most years we don't have to water the wheat field because rainfall is sufficient," said Li Quandong, 58, a farmer at Jiagucun Village in Huaxian County. "But we had to water the field this year to help the wheat seedlings turn green." A motor-pumped well, 50 meters from the wheat field, is one of the most popular ways to water the field, along with irrigation via pipes.

Farmers used to water the field using flumes, a type of open artificial water channel. But in 2005, Huaxian began to install pipelines underground to serve farmlands throughout the county. The new system reduced labor intensity and also saved water, since irrigation through the pipelines made full use of limited water resources.

The county government also sent 46 technicians to villages to offer on-the-spot guidance to help farmers defend against the drought and prevent wheat diseases and insect pests.

"My farm may produce 1,000 kg per mu (1/15 hectare) if there are no plant diseases or insect pests," Li said.

Technician Zhang Xinling was distributing reading materials to farmers at Jiagu Village. "Many farmers thought applying more fertilizer would help wheat overcome the drought. This is a big mistake, because fertilizer applied at this moment would burn the wheat seedling to death. So we must teach them more scientific methods," she told Beijing Review.

With this new irrigation and guidance, the drought won't impact summer wheat output in Huaxian despite some wheat seedlings turning yellow, Zhang said as she inspected wheat seedlings that had grown slender new roots.

Huaxian has watered all 114,667 hectares of drought-stricken wheat, according to the county government. As a result, there are no long stretches of dead wheat seedlings.

However, some problems still exist in the county's drought-stricken areas. The groundwater level, for example, has dropped due to overuse, which may cause ecological trouble in the future. In addition, the project introducing the Yellow River was designed to irrigate some 130,000 hectares of farmland. However, only 20,000 hectares have benefited from the project because of incomplete irrigation facilities.

Compared with Huaxian, which is located in the plains area and relies on water from the Yellow River, Henan's Linzhou City, situated in the Taihang Mountains connecting Shanxi and Hebei provinces, was suffering from severe drought. The city has long been obsessed with rare water resources.

The average rainfall from last October to early January 2009 in this area was only 4.3 mm, the lowest since 1956.

The low precipitation, high temperature and dry land have aggravated the drought's effects, affecting 22,000 hectares of local farmland, or 59.7 percent of the total.

The Red-Flag Canal, a 10-year irrigation project constructed in the 1960s, has helped ease the drought in Linzhou. It introduced water from the Zhanghe River to the high mountains of Linxian County, which was upgraded to Linzhou City in 1994.

People in Linxian cut through 1,250 hills, built 211 tunnels and bridged 152 aqueducts, leading people to call the canal a "manmade river in heaven" and "the modern Great Wall." In the face of this drought, they are making full use of it.

"We would harvest nothing without the canal," said a farmer at Shenjiagang Village in Yaocun Town. Her family's farmland has been watered three times, leaving the soil moist and soft.

Located at the lower reaches of the Red-Flag Canal, all 80 hectares of farmland at Shenjiagang Village rely on irrigation from the canal. Farmers only pay 0.8 yuan for every 150 cubic meters of water, not a financial burden for them.

To ensure ample water resources, the local government managed to introduce water from Shanxi Province and use water from the Nangudong Reservoir, which holds 20 million cubic meters. The flow rate of the canal has expanded from 1.5 cubic meters per second in previous years to 4 cubic meters, providing ample water resources to irrigate wheat fields.

Currently, 25,733 out of 29,933 hectares of farmland in the city have been irrigated, with 19,333 hectares irrigated by water from the canal.

But not all farmlands in the area are able to enjoy water from the canal. Some 7,000 hectares in faraway mountainous areas have difficulty accessing it.

Recent rainfall has eased concerns. The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters announced on February 17 that the severity of the drought in north China's winter wheat regions was lessening thanks to local irrigation projects and the rain. The area affected by the drought has shrunk to a level comparable with previous years.

February 18 was the Rain Water Festival according to China's lunar calendar, when rainfall was expected to increase. That day saw rain fall in all of China's winter wheat planting areas.

Forecasts by China's Central Meteorological Station said this rainfall was expected to last two days and bring 5 mm of precipitation to winter wheat areas in Shandong, Hebei and Henan provinces. But China still has a long way to go to thoroughly address the country's drought problem.