China’s Farms Face Climate Change Challenge

Environmental News from China: 

China’s massive agricultural sector is facing growing risks as a result of extreme weather, and shifting planting conditions brought about by climate change, an official with the agriculture ministry said on Wednesday.

China’s farming belts have been hit by record temperatures and rainfall this year, as well as drought in the north, and Liu Lihua of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said the country is facing a surge in “extreme meteorological disasters.”

“The disasters have become more and more abnormal and unpredictable, bringing more and more challenges to agricultural production,” she told a press briefing.

Average rainfall has been rising by 5.1 millimeters every decade, and rain belts have also been moving northwards, causing long-term shifts in planting areas. Waterlogged farmland made it difficult to harvest last year, with some regions hit by more rainfall in one month than they normally experience in a year.

Source: Reuters