Mark Schifferbein
Associated Press
LONGQUAN, China (AP) — In Gan Bingdong’s greenhouse in southwest China, hundreds of persimmons that were supposed to bear yellow fruit withered, as farmland losses mounted during the country’s driest hot summer in 60 years.
Mr Gan’s farm south of the industrial metropolis of Chongqing lost half of its vegetable crops in high temperatures of 106 degrees Fahrenheit, drought shrank the enormous Yangtze River and crops in central China withered.
Gan’s surviving eggplant is no bigger than a strawberry. A reservoir next to his farm has dried up, forcing him to pump groundwater.
“The heat this year has been annoying,” Gan said.
The National Weather Service said on Aug. 20 that drought conditions in large swathes of China have “increased significantly” from the densely populated east through central agricultural provinces to eastern Tibet.
The Bureau of Meteorology said local authorities were ordered to “use all available water sources” to supply homes and livestock.
The biggest impact is in Sichuan, where factories have been shut down and offices and shopping malls have been asked to turn off air conditioners after power generation from reservoirs fell to half their normal levels.
The province has a population of 94 million and 80 percent of its electricity comes from hydroelectric dams.
Factories that make processor chips for smartphones, auto parts, solar panels and other industrial products have been shut for at least six days. Some say production will drop, while others say supply to customers will not be affected.
The shutdown poses a challenge to the ruling Communist Party as Chinese President Xi Jinping, the most powerful leader in decades, is ready to try to break with tradition by granting himself a third five-year term at a meeting in October or November term leader.
Growth in factory output and retail sales weakened in July, China’s economic recovery setback after Shanghai and others
The industrial hub began to close in late March to combat the virus outbreak.
In the first half of 2022, the economy will grow just 2.5% from a year earlier, less than half the official annual target of 5.5%.
State-owned utilities are moving electricity from other provinces to Sichuan. Authorities used fire trucks to deliver water to two arid villages near Chongqing.
In Hubei province, east of Chongqing, 220,000 people need drinking water, while 17 million acres of crops have been damaged, the Hubei provincial government said. It declared a drought emergency and distributed relief aid.
Sichuan lost 116,000 acres of crops and damaged 1.1 million acres of land, the Sichuan Provincial Disaster Commission said. It said 819,000 people faced shortages of drinking water.
The Shanghai-based news outlet The Paper reported that Chongqing authorities said an estimated 1 million rural people would face shortages of drinking water.
Gan, a farmer in southern Chongqing, said he had lost a third of his persimmon trees.
Farmers in the region typically harvest rice in late August or September, but plan to harvest at least two weeks earlier, before the plants die, Gan said.
A community reservoir next to Gan’s farm is nearly empty, save for a pool surrounded by cracked mud. After the supply channel dried up, it leaked and the heat accelerated evaporation. Gan is pumping groundwater for irrigation.
“If the heat comes every year, we’re going to have to find solutions like putting up nets, irrigating daily or installing sprinkler systems to reduce losses,” Gan said.
Meanwhile, other areas were also hit by deadly flash floods.
At least 23 people were killed and eight were missing from floods in northwestern Qinghai province, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing local authorities.
According to the report, on August 18, mudslides and flooding occurred in six villages in Datong County, Qinghai Province. About 1,500 people were forced to leave their homes.
