China’s northeastern corn belt left flattened by typhoons, fuelling food-security concerns ahead of autumn harvest
- Inland typhoon damage and flooding look to cause a big drop in corn harvest in China’s northeast, according to a Post field trip spanning hundreds of miles
- Reduced corn output could lead to price inflation in other grains such as wheat and might threaten China’s overall grain supply sufficiency as state reserves dwindle
Farmer Zhao Ge lets out a series of sighs as he surveys the damage to his corn crops in China’s northeastern province of Heilongjiang after three typhoons slammed the region in the past month.
With his farm located in Longjiang county more than 800km (497 miles) from the coast, Zhao says he never anticipated typhoons being a problem. But the climate abnormality – previously unheard of in China’s main corn-growing region – looks to have a severe impact on output at a time when broader food-security concerns are rising across the country due to drought, flooding and crop infestations in recent months.
Standing amid rows of corn uprooted by strong winds, Zhao leans over to pick up a cob from a downed stalk and points to the kernels, noting that they are too small for this late in the growing season.
“My output is expected to fall by half this year,” he laments.
Nevertheless, Zhao considers himself lucky. The 13.3 hectares (33 acres) of cornfields he manages were partially protected by small nearby hills and rows of trees. Some of his neighbouring farmers fared much worse. Many cornfields along the road from Yongfa village, where Zhao lives, to the town of Jingxing suffered much heavier losses. In some cases, entire fields lie flattened – with withering leaves indicating that the stalks are dead.
The local harvest season is supposed to start in about two weeks, and Chinese authorities are looking to allay concerns about the yield following the typhoons. On Wednesday, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Han Changfu said China should see a bumper grain harvest, owing to good growing conditions and an increase in planted acreage.