China is, with more than 100 million tonnes, the largest wheat producer country in the world. Its production is over 40% higher than the second biggest production, India, but is behind the EU's wheat production, estimated at 140 million tonnes. So, when a fluctuation in chinese's wheat production occurs there are consequences in the price of the commodity which triggers in real bad effects for poorest people.

China is currently suffering the worst drought in 60 years. Its desperate situation requires from desperate measures. The chinese government has announced a billion dollars in emergency water aid to ease the severe drought, as the United Nations warned of a threat to the harvest of the world's biggest wheat producer. Beijing has also promised to use its grain reserves to reduce the pressure on global food prices, which have surged in the past year to record highs due to the floods in Australia and a protracted dry spell in Russia.

The measures were evident in one of several key agricultural provinces afflicted by four months without rain, the Baita reservoir in Shandong. With nearby crops turning yellow, a mechanical digger cut a crude, open-cast well into the dried-up bed of the reservoir. Muddy water from the five-metre deep pit was pumped up to the surface via a hose that snaked past a fishing boat stranded on the cracked earth.

The problems are compounded by the growing water demands of cities and industry. On the outskirts of Sishui – which translates as Four Waters due to its historic abundance of rivers and sprints – villagers complain that they are not allowed to use the Si river that runs past their homes because the water is earmarked for the Huajin paper mill and an artificial lake in a nearby urban development.

"We can't use our own water. The local officials want to keep it so they can show a 'green face' to the big-shot leaders from Beijing," said a peanut and cotton farmer who gave the surname Liu to The Guardian. "We are very angry. But we are afraid to complain."

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation issued an alert earlier this week (pdf). "The ongoing drought is potentially a very serious problem," it said, noting that the affected area of 5.16 million hectares representd two-thirds of China's wheat production.

Via: The Guardian