Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu has called on governments in
all localities to work harder in drought relief and ensure drinking
water for urban and rural residents and livestock in drought-hit
areas.
Great efforts should also be made to help farmers increase
income and promote economic development, said Hui during a four-day
inspection tour of Hunan Province in central China that ended
Sunday.
Hui is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist
Party of China Central Committee and head of the State Flood
Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.
The areas south of the Yangtze River, which is also a leading
grain production base in China, has been hit by dry spells since
late June due to sustained high temperature and less rainfall.
As of Thursday, more than 6.5 million hectares of arable land in
11 provinces including Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Fujian had been
affected by the drought, while 8.65 million urban and rural
residents sustained a short supply of drinking water, along with
3.89 million head of draught animals.
In Changsha, capital of Hunan, temperatures hit 41 C yesterday,
the highest since 1949.
According to a China News Service report, thunderstorms
predicted in regions between the Yangtze and Huaihe rivers could
ease the heat.
And while the heatwave will continue south of the Huaihe River,
it will affect a smaller area.
Hui visited Hengyang and other cities and counties that are
worst hit by the drought, going to crop fields and villagers' homes
to study the anti-drought situation and farmers' production and
livelihood.
He urged officials to take all means for push forward the
drought-relief work and pay great attention to the people's
livelihood, with priority given to ensure the supply of drinking
water.
Efforts must be made to keep the people from sunstroke, prevent
the outbreak of epidemic diseases and guard against fire disasters
in the drought-affected areas, the vice premier said.
Hui stressed the importance of unifying and improving water
distribution for a better use of water resources, and of helping
the drought-hit areas to overcome adversity through greater
production so as to reduce losses caused by the drought to the
minimum.
It is also important to step up construction of water
conservancy infrastructure facilities and gradually improve
production conditions, said the vice premier.
Hui pointed out that affected by the outbreak of severe acute
respiratory syndrome (SARS), flooding and drought, there arise new
difficulties challenging the efforts to increase farmer's
income.
To fulfill the central task of increasing farmers' income, he
urged departments concerned in all areas to promote agricultural
readjustments, vigorously advance industrialized operations, create
more jobs for farmers, deepen rural reforms, speed up scientific
progress in agriculture, render more support to agriculture, and
develop agriculture and rural economy in an all round way.
During his stay in Hunan, Hui also visited some major
agricultural enterprises engaged in industrialized operations and
the State Hybrid Rice Research Center.
(Xinhua News Agency?August 4, 2003)