Henan deploys 200 million yuan in emergency funding for wheat drying amid rainy season

Central China's Henan Province, one of the country's major grain producing regions, vowed to make available 200 million yuan ($28.22 million) of emergency funding to secure the output of wheat amid the impact from abnormal rainy weather, local press Henan Daily reported on Tuesday.

Central China's Henan Province, one of the country's major grain producing regions, vowed to make available 200 million yuan ($28.22 million) of emergency funding to secure the output of wheat amid the impact from abnormal rainy weather, local press Henan Daily reported on Tuesday.

The emergency funds will be limited to recovering drying wheat, and to help farmers secure the harvest and their income, the report noted. 

This year's harvest period in southern Henan Province which falls at the end of May consecutive rainy weather disrupted normal operations and may affect the annual wheat output. Experts suggested that prolonged rain may cause the largest impact to local agricultural sector in a decade. 

From May 23, Henan's agricultural authorities organized early harvests covering 3.86 million mu (257,533.33 hectares) of wheat field before the rains began, accounting for 4.52 percent of provincial wheat planting area. Nanyang in Henan Province deployed 724 tracked harvest machines and 496 dryers to facilitate the harvest. Zhumadian, another city of Henan, also applied about 92,000 drainage units to drain wheat fields, the Henan Daily reported. 

Sun Weifeng, head of Henan's agricultural authority, said the province is making efforts to accelerate the summer grain harvest amid the impact of weather, allocating 170,000 wheeled harvest machines and 30,000 tracked harvest machines across the province after the rain, and creating more space for drying wet wheat. 

The province's finance department also required insurance providers to address compensation procedures and reduce the loss of wheat growers. Sun predicted that this round of wheat harvest will be completed by around June 15.