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Wild Weather Around the World

All dried out

No rain has fallen for more than 100 days in areas of northern China.

The ongoing drought coupled with high temperatures is crippling China’s breadbasket and threatening millions of acres of wheat crops, the United Press International reported.

China hasn’t seen a drought this bad in over 50 years and government officials are concerned about the 3.7 million people across eight provinces who are facing water shortages. The Chinese government has allocated $44 million to help farmers and others affected by the water shortage cause by the drought.

While lack of drinking water and aid for farmers is the government’s most pressing matter, the government is showing little concern that there will be a shortage of food due to the drought.

The Chinese government has said it already has stockpiles of food to replace crops lost in the drought and that these substitutes will prevent food prices from rising. However, it seems questionable that this will last very long as approximately 63 percent of the wheat crop is threatened and up to 40 percent of wheat crop could be destroyed in some provinces.

A rise in food prices could be devastating to vulnerable populations like migrant factory workers, many of whom have been recently laid off as the world economy declines.
According to an analyst with the Storm Exchange Weather Risk Outlook program on the situation in China:

“We’re seeing a lot of uncertainty among producers on their estimates for soybeans, corn and wheat,” Gail Martell, Storm Exchange Senior Agriculture Analyst, says. “Commodity prices currently suggest that fears about global demand are outweighing concerns over supply reductions, but as the weather picture continues to develop, we think diminished supply could be a problem to contend with in 2009.”

Although the severe drought is the main contributor to the water shortage, the farming industry in China was already susceptible to water shortages because of a combination of poor irrigation practices, pollution, urbanization and population growth. All of these factors have significantly reduced the ground water levels, a primary source of water for north and central areas of China.

In the short term China needs to make it a priority to keep food prices stable while in the long term it needs to take a closer look at its farming and irrigation practices to prevent a similar crisis.