SOH News

Breaking News – Severe droughts in Kunming region, with villagers drinking mud to survive

According to SOH sources, 5 counties in Kunming, Yunnan province are suffering from severe droughts, with some regions receiving no rain for 4~5 months. With the spring time perfect for farming, crops are severely damaged and residents are unable to access drinking water, resorting to people drinking slurry.

According to City News, less than 20% of yang plum trees have fruited. During the flowering season in February, the plants were hit with ice, and now in April, the fruiting season the trees are hit with drought. According to the city’s Agricultural Department, Fuming district agricultural reports are showing wide spread drought in the region, with crops suffering from snow and ice damage, with a reduction of 50,000 tonnes in one crop production. Overall, around 60% of crops are affected in the city.

The most severely affected district in Luquan have seen young wheat and other crops die from lack of water. One resident Chen Shaobuao says that if there’s no rain, we wont even have slurry to drink. Chen says that “our rice seedlings and tobacco seedlings have all died from dryness. If heaven does not give us rain, we will have nothing to eat next year.” Chen also said that the wells and ponds in the village have all dried up. The 40 families in the village are taking water from a reservoir 2 kilometres away, but there’s less and less water there. Mr Huang from the Malu village says that the situation is the same in their village, and that not only have the seedlings died, there are deep cracks appearing on the farm beds.

According to an official from the Water Department in Luquan district, the temperature in February was above average, showing obvious signs of an early spring, with around 5900 acres of crop land in its 16 counties affected by drought. Water supplies to 15000 people and 10000 cattle are affected, especially near the rivers and mountainous areas. The weather bureau has predicted a continuation of the drought for the year.

The above news is brought to you by Yu Hang and Chris Thomas for the SOH Radio Network.