Concerns over grain supply as North China suffers worst drought in 63 years

The worst drought in 63 years in North China has badly hit three major grain producing regions, sparking concerns over nationwide grain supply.

Liaoning, Jilin and Henan provinces have seen the lowest levels of precipitation in the last six decades. Another nine regions, including Shandong, Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces as well as Inner Mongolia, are also bearing the brunt of the severe drought, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

The prolonged drought has affected 4.39 million hectares of cropland and 2.35 million people across the country, people.com.cn reported Wednesday.

The central government has allocated 10 billion yuan ($1.63 billion) to fight drought and regional authorities have also took a number of measures to counter the situation.

Liaoning government has raised its emergency response level to the third-highest. The area of drought-stricken farmland in the province increased from 75,300 to 1.62 million hectares in just two weeks.

If conditions linger into the fall, local agriculture may be heavily affected, Liaoning provincial meteorological bureau said in a statement.

Local meteorologists said they are prepared to force artificial rainfall if conditions are suitable.

In Jilin, 10 major grain-producing counties are likely to face possible poor harvests or even harvest failure, the People's Daily reported Wednesday. And in Henan, the drought has affected 1.81 million hectares of farmland growing autumn grain crops and caused a direct economic loss of 7.29 billion yuan, Henan Business Daily reported Monday.

However, agricultural experts think that the influence on grain supply is likely to be limited.

This year has not seen the worst drought in history, and the hardest-hit area accounts for only a small part of China's total 106.7 million hectares of farmland, said Li Guoxiang, a research fellow with the Rural Development Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Li added that South China is also likely to see a bumper rice harvest.

Maize is the primary crop grown in the worst-hit areas. The yield will meet the maize market demand due the high stocks in China, he noted.

Recent heavy rainfall has alleviated conditions somewhat in affected areas.