In China, 8 major winter wheat growing provinces suffer a once-in-half-a-century drought; provinces like Shan Dong and He Bei have not received any rainfall since autumn.
Despite growing optimism brought by the forecast of rain soon, the area affected by the drought has increased to over 20 million hectares. Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters expressed confidence in a satisfactory summer harvest if the weather does not exacerbate in the next phase.
The officials were blamed for not providing timely assistance to the affected farmers, the first phase of relief work did not commence until two weeks ago.
Though some others, like Professor Zhou from the Renmin University social scientist, said the ‘ministry did a superb job, even though the challenge was huge.’
Whether or not the officials are to be blamed, it will depend on the weather in the coming days to determine if the farmers worst hit by the dry spell will be able to salvage enough wheat to make a living.
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