Go all out to fight drought and ensure summer sowing
In recent days, high temperatures have continued in northern China. On June 14, the Ministry of Water Resources raised the emergency response level for drought prevention in Henan and Hebei provinces to Level III, and maintained the emergency response level for drought prevention in Shanxi, Jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces at Level IV.
In response to the high temperature and drought, North China, Huanghuai and other regions have gone all out to respond, doing a good job in forecasting and warning, water dispatching, agricultural technical guidance, etc., striving to minimize the losses caused by drought. Recently, reporters visited the front lines of major grain-producing provinces such as Hebei, Shandong, and Henan to learn about the implementation of drought resistance and summer sowing measures.
"The water is coming!" On the afternoon of June 14, a trickle of water flowed into the irrigation canal. Zhang Qingmin, a large grain grower in Huayuan Village, Zhangqiu Town, Yanggu County, Liaocheng City, Shandong Province, hurriedly arranged for people to lay water hoses, "Hurry up and divert water for irrigation, and we must protect the results of summer sowing!"
Since June, Shandong Province has received an average of 1.5 mm of precipitation, 92.8% less than the same period in previous years. The hot weather makes people feel hot. Two days ago, Zhang Qingmin, who had just planted 350 mu of corn, had blisters on his mouth. "The high temperature these days has affected the germination of seeds due to lack of water in the fields."
The water that "quenches thirst" comes from the nearby Jinti River. "After the drought occurred, we immediately surveyed drought-fighting water sources and water demand, and adopted measures such as diverting water from other rivers and mobile irrigation. So far, the county has transferred a total of 5.1 million cubic meters of water, solving the irrigation problem of farmland in 50 villages along the coast," said Zhang Guangchun, Party Secretary and Director of the Yanggu County Water Conservancy Bureau.
The turbines turned, the gates were lifted, and the water poured down... Early in the morning of June 12, the Xiaomazhuang Reservoir in Lanling County, Linyi City, Shandong Province, opened the gates to release water. The release lasted for 5 days, with a total of 864,000 cubic meters of water, irrigating more than 35,000 mu of farmland. During the summer sowing period, Linyi City successively dispatched 6 large and 26 medium-sized reservoirs and some small reservoirs to open the gates to release water, and the cumulative water release to ensure summer planting exceeded 240 million cubic meters.
Shandong Province has coordinated the allocation of water resources and strengthened the unified dispatching and management of drought-resistant water sources. So far, the Shandong Provincial Water Resources Department has guided 156 large and medium-sized irrigation areas to make full use of all available water sources such as reservoirs, rivers, and wells to carry out water diversion irrigation and expand the irrigation area, with a total of 11.8769 million mu of drought-resistant irrigation.
Henan Province has also been experiencing high temperatures for days. Since late April, the average precipitation in Henan Province has been 26.6 mm, 75% less than the same period last year. Especially since June, 72 national meteorological stations in 16 provincial cities including Anyang have reported severe drought or above. Since late May, Henan has conducted a comprehensive inspection of 987,200 irrigation wells in farmland, and repaired damaged facilities in a timely manner to meet the needs of drought-resistant irrigation.
"As of mid-June, the total available water in Henan's large and medium-sized reservoirs was 4.048 billion cubic meters, and the reserves were sufficient. Considering the most unfavorable factor of no effective rainfall before the end of June, 700 million cubic meters of water can be released for drought relief irrigation; the water supply of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, large and medium-sized reservoirs and rivers is normal, and the groundwater sources are relatively abundant, which can meet the needs of drought relief." A relevant person in charge of the Henan Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs told reporters.
On the morning of June 14, in the wheat stubble field of Houxiaogu Village, Xinmatou Town, Qiu County, Hebei Province, a reel-type sprinkler was operating under the scorching sun. Large streams of water spurted out from the outlet, moving in a counterclockwise direction, with a spray diameter of more than 30 meters.
This machine that has made great contributions to drought relief is a newly promoted irrigation equipment in the county. "Its biggest advantage is that it saves water. You can sprinkler irrigation by setting the radiation diameter!" Zhao Junlei, a member of Qiu County's social service organization, said, "Ordinary flood irrigation requires about 60 cubic meters of water per mu of land, but this machine only needs 30-40 cubic meters. The reel-type sprinkler can evenly irrigate the land, effectively saving water." It not only saves water, but also saves labor. Zhao Junlei said, "One person can operate such a machine. On average, 1.5 mu of farmland can be irrigated in one hour. For plots with good soil moisture, 3 mu of farmland can be irrigated in one hour." At present, there are more than 60 such reel-type sprinklers in Qiu County, which have played a great role in the county's agricultural drought relief and water conservation during the critical period.
In the corn field, Guo Weidong, a villager from Guolou Village, Dutang Township, Taikang County, Henan Province, took out a remote control and pressed it towards the well house, and water mist instantly sprayed from the spray gun. "Sprinkler belt, spray gun, water pump... I have a full set of irrigation equipment here. One spray gun can irrigate more than 20 acres of land a day."
"This year I planted 130 acres of corn and more than 30 acres of soybeans and peanuts. I have watered them twice since the wheat harvest. The weather has been too dry recently, so I watered them for the third time today." Guo Weidong said that if it does not rain in the near future, he will have to spray the corn and peanuts with water again in 10 days.
In Linyi, Shandong, newly planted corn seedlings sprouted three or five new leaves among the dry wheat stubble, and irrigation water continued to flow into the land. "Thanks to the high-standard farmland water-saving irrigation facilities, the irrigation water automatically flows into the land as soon as the card is swiped." Seeing the dry land being moistened, Zhang Yongsan, a villager in Xiaowei Village, Zhengcheng Town, Pingyi County, breathed a sigh of relief.
On the eve of the "three summer" production, Linyi City carried out a dragnet inspection of the built high-standard farmland to provide important guarantees for summer planting. In recent days, all counties and districts in Linyi City have made full use of irrigation facilities to increase drought resistance and irrigation capacity. At present, more than 8,600 wells and pumping stations have been put into use to effectively play the role of "drought resistance and water conservation" of high-standard farmland.
As it is the critical period for summer sowing, many places have sent agricultural experts to the fields to provide agricultural technical guidance to combat drought and ensure summer sowing.
In Xingcun Town, Sishui County, Jining City, Shandong Province, seed drills shuttle back and forth in the fields. "For fields with insufficient moisture, we need to create moisture for sowing, and try to choose varieties that are resistant to high temperatures, lodging, and have high yields." Wang Qin, an agricultural technician from the Sishui County Agriculture and Rural Bureau, and her colleagues checked the sowing situation. Recently, Sishui County has set up seven drought-resistant technical guidance teams to go to villages and households in the fields to provide technical guidance services such as soil moisture conservation, crop cultivation, water storage and conservation, and water-saving irrigation.
"The soil moisture conditions are not very good, so we need to improve water utilization. Scientific drip irrigation helps increase the survival rate of seedlings." Under the scorching sun, in a corn field that had just been planted in Zhangzhuang Community, Rencheng Town, Renze District, Xingtai City, Hebei Province, Song Renzhou, a specially appointed agricultural technician from the Renze District Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau, was patiently guiding farmers to carry out precise drip irrigation.
"At present, 375,000 mu of wheat in Renze District have basically been harvested, and 363,000 mu of summer corn have entered the critical sowing period." Song Renzhou said that the agricultural department of Renze District actively organized agricultural experts into four groups, went deep into the fields, and provided one-on-one service guidance to large-scale growers and family farms. Technical measures to resist high temperatures are implemented according to time, place and seedlings, and suggestions for drought-proof sowing and management are given. At the same time, dynamic monitoring and evaluation are strengthened to provide technical support for agricultural production and lay a solid foundation for a bumper autumn grain harvest.
In response to the drought, many departments in various places have taken measures to actively respond. Henan Province issued documents such as "Emergency Notice on Doing a Good Job in Current Drought Relief Work" and "Emergency Notice on Doing a Good Job in Drought Relief Sowing and Seedling Protection", which put forward requirements for drought-resistant sowing, field management, drought monitoring, and water source scheduling; Handan City, Hebei Province launched the "Summer Planting and Summer Management Emergency Plan", emphasizing the use of moisture to create moisture for sowing, watering to replenish moisture, and agronomic techniques to conserve moisture.
"Although we encountered a certain degree of drought, the summer harvest in the province was basically completed on June 7. Summer sowing work started on a large scale on May 28. As of June 13, the sown area had reached 79.152 million mu," said Yang Wentao, director of the Flood Control and Drought Relief Department of the Henan Provincial Emergency Management Department.
