Vice premier urges good job in drought relief ( 2003-08-04 10:42) (Xinhua)
Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu has called on
governments in all localities to work harder in drought relief and ensure
drinking water for urban and rural residents and livestock in drought-hit areas.
Great efforts should also be made to help farmers increase income and promote
economic development, said Hui during a four-day inspection tour of Hunan
Province in central China that ended Sunday.
Hui is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China
Central Committee and head of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief
Headquarters.
The areas south of the Yangtze River, which is also a leading grain
production base in China, has been hit by dry spells since late June due to
sustained high temperature and less rainfall.
As of Thursday, more than 6.5 million hectares of arable land in 11 provinces
including Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Fujian had been affected by the drought,
while 8.65 million urban and rural residents sustained a short supply of
drinking water, along with 3.89 million head of draught animals.
Hui visited Hengyang and other cities and counties that are worst hit by the
drought, going to crop fields and villagers' homes to study the anti-drought
situation and farmers' production and livelihood.
He urged officials to take all means for push forward the drought-relief work
and pay great attention to the people's livelihood, with priority given to
ensure the supply of drinking water.
Efforts must be made to keep the people from sunstroke, prevent the outbreak
of epidemic diseases and guard against fire disastersin the drought-affected
areas, the vice premier said.
Hui stressed the importance of unifying and improving water distribution for
a better use of water resources, and of helping the drought-hit areas to
overcome adversity through greater production so as to reduce losses caused by
the drought to the minimum.
It is also important to step up construction of water conservancy
infrastructure facilities and gradually improve production conditions, said the
vice premier.
Hui pointed out that affected by the outbreak of severe acute respiratory
syndrome (SARS), flooding and drought, there arise newdifficulties challenging
the efforts to increase farmer's income.
To fulfill the central task of increasing farmers' income, he urged
departments concerned in all areas to promote agricultural readjustments,
vigorously advance industrialized operations, create more jobs for farmers,
deepen rural reforms, speed up scientific progress in agriculture, render more
support to agriculture, and develop agriculture and rural economy in an all
round way.
During his stay in Hunan, Hui also visited some major agricultural
enterprises engaged in industrialized operations and the State Hybrid Rice
Research Center.
