LONGQUAN, China (AP) — Scorching heat during China’s driest summer (2022) in six decades has wilted crops and left farmers struggling. Hundreds of persimmon trees are wilted in Gan Bingdong’s greenhouse in southwestern China. A reservoir beside Gan’s farm has run dry, forcing him to pump groundwater. Some areas have declared the summer growing season a total loss. The national weather agency said drought conditions across China have increased significantly, from the densely populated east across central farming provinces west into eastern Tibet. The forecast called for no rain and high temperatures for at least three more days. Local authorities were ordered to use all available water sources to supply households and livestock.
Gan Bingdong walks through vegetable plots at his farm in Longquan village in southwestern China’s Chongqing Municipality, Saturday, Aug. 20, 2022. Drought conditions across a swathe of China from the densely populated east across central farming provinces into eastern Tibet have “significantly increased,” the national weather agency said Saturday. The forecast called for no rain and high temperatures for at least three more days from Jiangsu and Anhui provinces northwest of Shanghai, through Chongqing and Sichuan in the southwest to the eastern part of Tibet.
AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein.
Comments