$48 million in aid for drought relief

(chinadaily.com.cn)

Updated: 2016-09-07

Recently, the Finance?Bureau of Inner Mongolia autonomous region has allocated 320 million yuan ($48 million) for drought relief in the region’s eastern cities and leagues.

The eastern cities suffering severe drought include Hulunbuir, Hinggan League, Tongliao, Chifeng, Xilin Gol League as well as other small banners. This year has seen the largest area to be affected by drought in a long time, said local officials.

Inner Mongolia’s government has paid close attention to the drought and taken practical measures to battle this natural disaster. Regarding relief funds, the local finance bureau has provided 290 million yuan to herdsmen for livestock feedstuffs, drinking water, and well restoration; and about 30 million yuan living subsidies for impacted households.

All the aid money is being closely supervised and allotted by regional financial departments, to ensure the funds go to those in need, according to officials.

Since the beginning of summer, around 30 percent of the land in Inner Mongolia has been damaged by a continuous heat wave and little rainfall. Within the drought area, the affected grasslands are much larger than the agriculture and forestry zone, according to the local meteorological bureau.

So far, the total drought area covers 22.25 million hectares, and the severe drought acreage has been extended to 7.89 million hectares.

Even worse, the traditional cities and leagues that produce high-quality forage grasses like Hulunbuir (59.5 percent stricken) and XilinGol (71.4 percent stricken) have been undergoing wide-range destruction.

Growing in extremely-dry soil, some grazing land has experienced pests, diseases, wilting, and even irreparable land degradation.

Subsequently, the grass yield among these cities and leagues is expected to be reduced by 6.85 million tons in all, compared to the former years’ average output. And among the drought areas, Hulunbuir is facing a 3.09-million-ton reduction; meanwhile XilinGol League is confronting a loss of 3.6 million tons by the end of autumn.