 Villages must play the waiting game in war against drought
By Hu Yinan (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-02-12 07:42
In many parts of northern China, light rain and the desperate efforts of the administration have been helping ease the country's worst drought for half a century. Meanwhile the media has been flooded with stories of constant inspections and local irrigation projects, as well as heartbroken farmers determined to save their harvest. But all is quiet in central Henan, the worst-hit region during an unprecedented dry spell that, as of Monday, had affected 136 million mu (9.1 million hectares) of winter wheat in eight major producing provinces, while leaving 3.5 million people and 1.66 million livestock with no access to drinking water. You would be hard pressed to find farmers and soldiers irrigating fields around the clock and trying to secure another summer harvest with water pumps bought with central emergency funds in Pingdingshan, though, a city which boasts rich water resources. Rarely anyone is seen working the winter wheat fields across its vast countryside, where the local water resources chief has said only 65 percent of its 3.06 million mu (204,000 hectares) of farmland can be irrigated "no matter what we do". "The fields that could be saved have been saved," said farmer Gao Junhui, 37, as he sat in his tiny wooden chair in the fields around Gaozhuang village. "The battle is done." Central authorities warned the drought may continue until March and called for persistent efforts to combat it. But residents like Guo have already done their best with what they have.
Still, deputy village Party chief Li Gang complained he had to spend days using "loud speakers in just about every field" getting farmers to irrigate. "Only a few were willing," he said. A 1.5-hour drive northwest is Ruzhou county, home to around 1 million - more than 90 percent farmers. Full of plains and hills, it was the first county in Pingdingshan to start drought relief work. "We borrowed more than 1 million tons of water from reservoirs in nearby counties," said Han Jianguo, deputy chief of local water resources. "Two of our four medium reservoirs dried up, as have 17 of the 26 small ones." Ruzhou started its relief work before Christmas and managed to irrigate nearly all of its 550,000-mu plain fields. When it came to doing it a second time, however, the county ran out of water. Angou Reservoir, one of Ruzhou's largest, has a water storage capacity of 9 million tons. But when diversion started on Dec 20, its reserves totaled a mere 1.9 million tons, the lowest level in history. With only 200,000 tons of water, Angou, as with all other local reservoirs - each built no later than the 1970s - is spent. "I think the irrigation done so far is enough," said Han. "Rain would be a bonus. But realistically, the drought conditions can't be resolved unless we get rainfall of at least 15 mm." Although Henan received an average rainfall of 6 mm at the weekend, Pingdingshan had no more than 4 mm. Elsewhere in Pingdingshan and much of the province, especially in areas near hills and mountains, finding drinking water has become the priority, rather than irrigation. Most young migrant workers have already left after the Lunar New Year holiday, some returning to jobs, others seeking new ones amid the deepening economic crisis. Only women, children and the elderly have stayed behind, trying to buy enough water while waiting for the drought to end. It may seem natural that the need to survive is put before the irrigation of crops in times of disaster. But even out on the fields, where water resources are abundant, many farmers have chosen to just wait it out. For farmer Zhang Shufeng in Yexian county, the lack of facilities is to blame for his unwillingness to irrigate. "We've only got 20 wells for 1,800 mu of farmland and many haven't been fixed since the 1970s," he told China Daily before the rain on Saturday. Hundreds of meters away stood a fellow villager, Mao Qi, who was only too eager to irrigate his field after he borrowed water pumps from the county on Friday. "I eat and sleep on the fields, otherwise someone might steal the pumps," the 69-year-old said. "I meant to irrigate sooner but the pumps weren't available." Premier Wen Jiabao confirmed on Saturday that Henan had been allocated more than 60 million yuan ($ 8.8 million) of the total 400 million yuan in drought relief funds. But Tianzhuang village Party chief Li Derong claimed he had not seen a penny. "Not only that, the county has said only those who buy pumps from their agricultural equipment company qualify for a 320-yuan discount," he said. "But their pumps are bad quality and come in only one size. It's so unfair." Kong Weiping, 34, a migrant worker whose family in eastern Henan's Shangqiu city has refused to irrigate their wheat fields, said China must find effective ways to convince farmers to grow crops again. "The cost of growing crops is high enough, add that to the cost of irrigation and the fact farmers only have so much field to work with," Kong said. An average Chinese farmer has about 1.38 mu of arable land, while Henan farmers have only 1.1 mu. At around 70 to 80 cents per 500 g, each mu of wheat earns them at best 700 to 800 yuan a year. In comparison, salaries in construction, along with many other short-term city jobs, are at least 40 yuan a day. Irrigating 1 mu means more than 2 hours' work with a diesel engine, while a report last Friday by Henan's Flood Control and Drought Relief estimated the average cost for irrigating 1 mu of wheat field totaled around 15 yuan. The drought conditions, it said, require the fields to be irrigated at least four times. In other words, Henan will have to spend 3 billion yuan on electricity and diesel for effective irrigation alone, added Xinhua. Aside from a low grain price, the lack of fields and the high cost of growing crops, China's good harvest over five consecutive years means nearly every rural household is stuffed with stored grain. "The farmers have managed to feed themselves very well, so they don't really care about growing crops anymore," said a local press officer. "They'll manage even if there is no harvest at all this year." But that's something the central authorities don't want to hear. Henan produces a quarter of China's wheat. It gives around 15 billion kg of wheat to other provinces every year, and saves about 35 billion kg to feed its own population - more than 100 million. Around 15 million of Henan's rural residents are involved in agriculture, while 21 million people work away, according to Lu Zhihua, a division chief of the provincial labor and social security department. But the province only needs 10 million people toiling in the fields, he said.
(China Daily 02/12/2009 page6) |
