BEIJING (Reuters) -Henan province, a key wheat-producing area known as China’s granary, said it received 131.5 million yuan ($18.3 million) in funding from the central government on Monday to help support its drought-stricken farming sector.
That was double the amount of funds that the central Chinese province mobilised on its own in mid-July and in early August to safeguard the autumn grain harvest, which accounts for about three-quarters of the country’s annual grain output.
That brings the total funds allocated to support the repair of wells, maintenance of irrigation equipment and construction of water projects to 260 million yuan since then, the Henan finance department said in a statement on its website on Tuesday.
The North China Plain, a vast area that encompasses provinces such as Henan, Hebei and Shandong, has been hit by persistently high temperatures and lower-than-normal precipitation since July.
The area of cropland affected by water shortfalls has been greater than the same period a year earlier, and sultry weather and weak rainfall are expected to continue in August, with drought conditions potentially worsening in some areas, the ministry of agriculture and rural affairs warned on Monday.
Further south, in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, rice-growing regions have been swamped by record rainfall.
China’s autumn grain production faces significant risks and challenges from overlapping floods and droughts, the ministry said.
The ministry has issued 34 measures to minimise yield losses in severely affected areas, stabilise production in mildly affected areas, and increase output in unaffected areas, according to its statement on Monday.
($1 = 7.1821 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Ryan Woo; Editing by Michael Perry)
