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Drought Spreading in Major Chinese Grain Producer
More than 6.4 million people in east China's Anhui Province, a major grain producer, are doing their best to combat the worst drought in 50 years.
About 400,000 pumps are being used and millions of dollars spent to fight the drought. Severe drought began to hit the province in June due to long periods of hot weather and lack of rain. The northern part of the province has had only half as much rainfall as that in recent years.
By August 8, the drought had affected more than three million hectares of crops and had caused serious water shortages for 3.14 million people and 760,000 heads of livestock.
Hefei, the provincial capital, has limited the quantity of water supply and banned watering lawns with running water since August 9.
The local agricultural department estimates that the drought has led to at least 4.6 billion yuan (about 554 million US dollars) of direct economic losses.
Experts predict that dry weather will continue throughout August in the province.
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