What’s new: Extreme weather last year that included a nonstop week of rain in Henan and severe flooding in and around Hebei contributed to the two major grain-producing provinces’ drops in output, Caixin has learned.
Henan’s annual grain output fell by 2.4% to 66.24 million tons in 2023, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) last month. A staff member from the provincial agricultural agency blamed the decline on the “rare continuous rain that lasted a week” last summer in the central Chinese province.
Hebei was hit by record rains and heavy flooding in July and August that left dozens dead. The northern Chinese province’s annual grain output dipped 1.4% to 38.09 million tons last year as some floodwater had to be diverted to flood water storage and retention zones that were also used as farmland, a staff member from the provincial agriculture department told Caixin.
In Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region, grain production grew 16.9% last year due to an increase in the amount of water used in agricultural irrigation.
China’s overall grain output grew by 1% last year.
The background: Henan suffered the longest continuous rainfall since 1961 in May, just as many crops were maturing.
After torrential rains lashed the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region last summer, Hebei activated several flood storage and retention zones, diverting billions of cubic meters of floodwater into low-lying areas that included some farmland.
Hebei and Henan’s combined output accounted for more than 15% of China’s total grain production in 2023, according to NBS data.
Contact reporter Kelly Wang (jingzhewang@caixin.com) and editor Michael Bellart (michaelbellart@caixin.com)
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