Society

Latest snowfalls insufficient to ease drought

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-02-13 22:39

BEIJING - The latest two rounds of snowfalls in north China are of limited help in alleviating drought in the wheat-growing regions and the country should keep on with its anti-drought efforts, experts with the Ministry of Agriculture(MOA) said Sunday.

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"To effectively ease drought, the hard-hit regions require at least 50 millimeters of precipitation. The latest snowfalls fall far short of that amount," said Yu Zhenwen, an expert with the MOA.

The snow began falling late Wednesday over parched Shanxi, Henan, Jiangsu and Anhui provinces. Most regions in north China and along the Yangzi and Huaihe rivers received precipitation of less than 10 millimeters in the period.

Snowfalls starting on Saturday mainly concentrated in north China's Hebei province and Beijing with precipitation of less than 5 millimeters. The major wheat-growing regions of Shandong and Henan provinces recorded no effective rainfall.

As of Sunday, the drought had affected 108.24 million mu (7.22 million hectares) of crops in eight winter wheat-growing provinces of Hebei, Shanxi, Jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong, Henan, Shaanxi and Gansu, of which, about 23.9 million mu were severely affected, according the MOA.