The drought is raging and thirst-- A scan of the current drought situation in the country

The drought, which has lasted for many days, covering 12 provinces and regions, with an affected area of 58 million mu, is rapidly spreading, causing widespread concern at home and abroad.

"whether there is a harvest or not depends on the water." What are the characteristics of the current drought, what is its impact on the high yield of autumn grain in our country, and what are the prospects for drought resistance in the future? Xinhua News Agency reporters visited the hardest-hit areas and interviewed authoritative departments.

The severe drought area exceeds 14 million mu.

The reporter interviewed the Ministry of Agriculture, the State General Administration of Prevention and Meteorology and learned that this year's drought in China has shown five major characteristics, such as a wide range of drought, superposition of high temperature and drought, and concentration of severe drought areas.

First of all, there is a wide range of occurrence. Data from the Ministry of Agriculture show that drought has occurred to varying degrees in 12 provinces and regions, including Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, Henan, Anhui, Hubei, Shaanxi, Gansu and Xinjiang. So far, 58.68 million mu of crops have been affected by drought, of which 14.58 million mu have been seriously affected.

The second is the superposition of high temperature and drought weather. Recently, high temperature continues to occur in most parts of the north, and there is a lack of effective rainfall in many areas, which aggravates the evaporation of soil moisture. The weather of high temperature and little rain accelerated the loss of soil moisture and increased crop transpiration, which led to the rapid development of drought.

The third is the concentration of heavy drought areas. The reporter learned that this year's drought is mainly concentrated in Pingdingshan, Luoyang, Luohe, Xuchang, Jiaozuo, Langfang, Cangzhou, Baoding, Tangshan, and Weinan, Shaanxi, and other places, of which Henan is the worst-hit area of this drought, and the affected area is nearly half of the country's affected area.

In addition, there is a serious shortage of water for drought relief. According to data from the State General Administration of Prevention and Control, at present, more than 600 reservoirs in Hubei Province are below the dead water level, 111 small reservoirs and more than 50 000 ponds have dried up, and 16000 mechanical and electrical wells in Shanxi Province have dried up. The total water storage of 21 large reservoirs in Henan Province is 1.3 billion cubic meters less than that in the same period of the same period of the year, and there is an obvious shortage of water for drought resistance.

Finally, drought has a great impact on agricultural production. According to agricultural experts, during the drought, most of the corn in Huang-Huai, North and Northwest China is in the trumpet stage, and the rice is in the booting stage, which is the critical period of water demand, with rapid growth and large water demand. at present, the drought has hindered the crop growth process in some areas.

"the current drought mainly affects' both ends'. On one end, corn that has been sown early and has already begun to produce male seeds does not bloom; on the other hand, fields with late sowing time and weak growth are on the other end, resulting in rapid loss of soil moisture and wilting and curling of leaves." Cao Yande, director of the planting Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, said.

The local drought will lead to the loss of grain harvest.

"there will be droughts and floods on July 15 and a harvest on August 15." At present, it is a critical period for the growth and development of crops, and the continuous drought will undoubtedly affect the yield of autumn grain in China this year.

"I see that the grain in my mouth can't be collected." Liu Luying, a branch secretary in Tielu Village, Yixian County, Henan Province, pointed to the wilting plants of corn and told reporters that if the drought goes on like this, the cornfield may have the consequences of no harvest.

The reporter learned that due to the continuing drought, there is a risk of reduced or even no harvest of farmland in some rural areas in Henan and other places. According to data provided by Henan Agriculture, the drought-affected area in Henan has been increasing at a rate of 1.6 million mu a day over the past 10 days, of which 1/4 are the areas of severe drought-these fields are basically in a state of no harvest even if they have ample rainfall.

With regard to the impact of drought on agricultural conditions, according to the information of the State General Administration of Prevention and Control, at present, 8.41 million mu of crops in arid areas have reduced production due to severe drought, and 560000 mu have dried up and lost harvests, which has had a certain impact on agricultural production.

Since autumn grain accounts for 70% of the annual grain output, and because Henan grain output accounts for one-tenth of the national output, there is no doubt that the drought in Henan and other places will affect China's annual grain output. However, the agricultural department also said that on the whole, the drought in the whole year is not as good as in previous years, and crops in non-disaster areas are growing better. If handled properly, there is still hope for a bumper harvest of autumn grain throughout the year.

The importance of irrigation and water conservancy is highlighted

According to the agricultural proverb, whether there is a harvest or not depends on the water. Crops in favorable weather years often do not need too many artificial watering, with the advent of severe drought, artificial irrigation is very important, and the role of water conservancy projects is prominent.

In areas with better water conservancy facilities, the drought is relatively mild. In the high-standard grain fields of Chencao Township, Xuchang County, the fields are square, roads are netted and ditches are connected, and self-propelled sprinkler irrigation equipment can be seen everywhere in the fields. The reporter saw that due to the construction of high-standard grain field infrastructure and complete water-saving irrigation equipment, irrigation water in grain fields has been better guaranteed, and corn in the fields is thriving.

"although the drought is serious in the county, because the water conservancy facilities are well equipped and the harvest is guaranteed by drought and waterlogging, the growth of corn this year is the same as all the year round. Although it is a major disaster, it is a minor disaster." Zhou Bingchen, deputy director of Xuchang County Agricultural Technology extension Center, said.

At present, a phenomenon that can not be ignored is that the continuous drought has not only increased the number of irrigation, but also increased the cost of drought-resistant irrigated land for farmers, the enthusiasm of farmers to grow grain has decreased, and there are signs of abandoning farming and planting.

According to Wei Mengguan, deputy director of the Department of Agriculture of Henan Province, due to continuous drought in recent years, there is a serious shortage of surface water in some parts of Henan Province, the groundwater level has dropped obviously, and the cost of irrigating land for drought resistance has increased significantly. In some areas where the groundwater level is more than 200 meters, the average cost of irrigating land per mu has reached 60 to 100 yuan.

The increase in the cost of irrigating land has reduced the farmers' enthusiasm for drought resistance. During the interview, the reporter found that in some fields, the dry corn lay askew on the ground, unattended.

"the villagers felt that even if they spent money on irrigating the land, there was no hope of harvest, so they had to give up." Liu Luying told reporters that the drought was so serious this year that many crops could not grow after being watered twice, so the villagers had to give up drought-resistant farming.

In view of this phenomenon, the Ministry of Agriculture requires agricultural technicians at all levels to "squat and pack pieces" and "go to the house", personally teach drought resistance and seedling protection techniques, strengthen the scientific concept of drought resistance, reasonably grasp the order of drought resistance, and give classified guidance; it is required that the cultivated land with watering conditions can be irrigated and protected, and those without irrigated conditions will promptly replant crops with short growth periods, and prepare for the sowing of autumn and winter crops.