China Announces Financial Support to Boost Agricultural Output Post-Flooding

Vice Premier Liu Guozhong of China recently called for urgent measures to improve the disaster preparedness of agriculture in terms of prevention and restoration. The appeal was made against the backdrop of extreme flooding that wreaked havoc in several provinces and regions in the country.

According to the Xinhua News Agency, those were the remarks from Liu Guozhong after he made an investigative trip to two provinces in Northeast China: Liaoning and Jilin. He has noted that there were measures needed toward bolstering disaster prevention and mitigation, enhancement of rainfall monitoring systems, and defenses against water and drought-related disasters. This is very important in restoring agriculture output in the country after the recent floods.

The deluge, which reached above warning levels in eight major rivers of the cities of Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, and Xinjiang, was triggered due to extreme rain events. According to reports by state broadcaster CCTV on August 13, these regions had been submerged by the floods and large-scale destruction was reported. Precipitation hit record levels in July, causing severe flooding in areas like Sichuan Basin, Yellow River, Huai River, and parts of the North China Plain. The heavy rains broke a 33-station record in Henan, Hunan, and Shandong provinces.

The natural disasters caused massive economic loss. As per the Ministry of Emergency Management on August 9, July's economic losses from natural disasters surged to 76.9 billion yuan (around $10.1 billion). Of this figure, 88% were sustained from the heavy rains and flooding.

In return, the Chinese government is committed to providing more financial support to mitigate the effects of the flooding and to restore agricultural productivity, with a focus on reinforcing the infrastructure and resilience of major water conservancy projects to better withstand future disasters.

These efforts are going to be important in ensuring that agricultural sectors recover and continue to grow in spite of extreme weather events as China moves into the future.