Severe Drought Affects Five Million People In China

During the last week of August, numerous reports of drought in various parts of the world were reported. One of these unfortunate reports was in China wherein an estimated five million people are now experiencing severe drought which leaves their farms in serious condition. Unnatural drought like this can affect their crops and livestock—to much horror of Northern China’s local farmers and residents.

In this part of China where residents rely only on their produce for food and sustenance, having severe drought killing their crops is synonymous to hunger. When crops die, these farmers will have to find other ways to buy food and other living necessities. Wheat, which covers most farming lands are now in dire need of water as its soil is beginning to parch and wells are now rock dry.

Farmers in the area swear that this is, by far, the most severe drought the area has ever seen and they fear that their “little” water supply can only do so much to support the area’s need for drinking water. They also added that if rain won’t come soon, things will only get worse than it is now. The government of China is now looking for alternative ways to induce rainfall such as cloud seeding. This is to prepare for the worst case scenario that can happen if rain won’t come for the coming weeks or so.

Local farmers who support their families by farming alone are now stating that if worse comes to worst, they will seek job elsewhere. Some farmers already went ahead while others prefer to wait it out and hope for the best. Since the irrigation system in China is somewhat poor, these farmers are now trying to water their crops manually, bringing pails and pails of water to drought-stricken land.

Tweet This Post