Most of China's wheat-growing areas in the north are suffering from drought with some seeing no rain for more than three months while the second most important wheat province of Shandong is facing its worst drought in a century.
Experts say that if the drought goes on over coming weeks, with no effective measures to combat it, the winter wheat crop, which accounts for more than 90 percent of the country's wheat harvest, could be hurt significantly.
Guo Tiancai, deputy chief of the agriculture ministry's wheat experts group, said the dry weather had not hurt the winter crop for now, as earlier irrigation was providing enough moisture.
"But as the temperature warms up in spring and wheat grows faster, any measures which are not in place during the period could cause big losses to the final yield immeasurable losses."
He urged authorities and farmers to ensure crops are watered at the appropriate time, with spring coming next month, adding the coming four months would be crucial for wheat. His speech was posted on the ministry's web site (www.moa.gov.cn). In the Shandong cities of Linyi, Rizhao and Weifang, the dry spell has lowered reservoirs so dramatically that authorities are using fire trucks to deliver daily drinking water to residents, the China Daily reported.
Shandong's provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters has warned that the number of people affected could rise to 300,000 if precipitation does not come soon, the newspaper added.
More than 240,000 people are facing drinking water shortages. Over the weekend, Premier Wen Jiabao toured another drought-hit region, the central province of Henan and also the country's top wheat area and pledged that the government would build more water-saving projects this year, the Communist Party mouthpiece the People's Daily said.