Rain cannot come soon enough for farmers

Thousand of famers in Shizong County of Eastern Yunnan Province are desperately waiting for the rainy season. Rain is said to come in late May and will alleviate the severe water shortages for people, livestock and crops.

Stretches of golden wheat and rapeseed cover the farmlands, and wheat ears still thrust into the dry sky – inside the well formed husks there is nothing where kernels should be. Since last autumn the persistent drought has ravaged 500,000 hectares of farmland in Shizong County, generating little or no harvest for farmers who earned an average annual income per capita of about 3,000 Yuan.  

According to the County Government, around 100,000 people living in remote rural areas are worst-affected by the drought, with some having to fetch water from as far as 30 kilometres away from their homes.

"This year my family only harvested about 60 kilograms of wheat, compared to one ton last year." 51-year-old farmer Zhu Kaifa from Damaidi Village said. "With no water, we can't plant any crops and my son has to work in a coal mine deep in the mountain, leaving behind his two young daughters."

The drought dried up the water resources, parched lands, left little harvest for farmers while pushing up the price of food in some areas. In Gaoliang Township, Xiong Meiying and her family rely on the corn they harvested last year to survive the dry days before the rain season.

"The only well at the mountain top dried up. We couldn't plant anything in the field. We have to buy rice and vegetables from the market. But the rice price has soared from 3 to 6 yuan per kg and vegetable prices have doubled to 3 yuan per kg." Xiong, in her late 40s said.

Once she bought some moldy rice for 3.5 yuan per kg, "My 2-year-old granddaughter refused to eat it", she smiled bitterly.

Five men from her family have gone to Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces to find work. When the men were away, Xiong drove a mule cart to fetch water from a ditch down the mountain five times a day. She had to raise the seven pigs, three oxen, one mule and dozens of chickens and also to take care of the young and elderly.

"The men have to earn money outside so that the rest can have money to buy food at home." Xiong's 76-year-old mother said.

"One of my daughters is working in Guangdong. She called me recently saying it rains every day there. How I wish the rain would move to Yunnan." She smiled.