Drought Parches Millions of Hectares of Farmland in China

Millions of Chinese short of drinking water as drought destroys
large swathes of cropland

Severe drought in China has left about 9 million people and tens of millions of farm animals short of drinking water, parching about 4 million hectares of farmland in Gansu, Hubei, Shanxi, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, drought-relief officials said.

SW China’s Yunnan province, which borders Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, is said to be the worst hit area.

Earlier this months, the authorities declared 8 additional provinces as drought-stricken areas.

In 2011, parts of China experienced their worst drought in living memory, with rainfall averaging 50 percent of the  normal, destroying crops and cutting hydroelectric power from dams, officials said.

China is home to 20 percent of the world population, but has only about 5 percent of the world’s fresh water resources.

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