Severe drought continues in China

World Today

Dry weather is still lingering in northeast and central China. The drought that is hitting the region is the worst in 63 years, threatening the nation’s harvest. CCTV America’s Jin Yingqiao reports.

In the Jilin Province, most of the wells have dried up, and the rainfall has hit lows not seen since 1951. It’s a grueling fight against record drought, but one crucial weapon is artificial precipitation.

When some rain showed up in the skies of the Northeastern Liaoning Province, 17 special vehicles were sent out to shoot chemicals into the clouds to increase rainfall.

“The drought is expected to last for some time, but our artificial precipitation office has everything prepared. As soon as the right time comes, we will start artificial precipitation.” says Guo Zhengqiang from Shenyang Artificial Precipitation Office.

In the city of Panjin, 55 artificial precipitation rockets were fired into the sky. They caused the rate of precipitation to raise. The city of Chaoyang, a major agricultural city in the province, went through two months of no rain, threatening total crop failure.

Propellers were also brought in to increase irrigation to the seven wells in the village, and more power lines have to be built to power them. “We increased the size of 42 power transformers and built 4.8 kilometers (2.98 miles) of power lines that can carry 400 volts to fight against the drought and ensure the provision of power.” says Wang Jun, the Deputy Manager of the state power grid.

The drought has already impacted the prices of crops. The wholesale price of corn is at a record high. The price of pork, China’s most popular meat, has also gotten more expensive, since corn remains the major feed of choice in pig breeding.

Severe drought continues in China

Dry weather is still lingering in northeast and central China. The drought that's hit the region is the worst in 63 years, threatening the nation's harvest.