China floods: food security, inflation concerns with close to 1 million hectares affected in Henan

Name: Central China begins clean-up after record floods but other other cities brace for typhoon
Uploaded: 2021-07-27T10:30:23.000Z
Duration: 1 min 51 s
Description: Central China begins clean-up after record floods but other other cities brace for typhoon

Some 972,100 hectares (2.4 million acres) of crop fields have been affected by the floods in Henan province, raising concerns over food inflation and security

Henan province accounts for almost a third of the national wheat supply and around a tenth of the nation’s corn, vegetable and pork production

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Local authorities in Weihui, a county in northern Henan, said on Tuesday morning that floods in parts of the county had started to decline, but photos and videos taken by local residents showed water levels actually rose overnight. Photo: Simon Song

Ji Siqi

Published: 6:30pm, 27 Jul 2021Updated: 11:22pm, 27 Jul 2021

The floods in the central province of Henan pose a threat to one of China’s biggest agricultural regions, but any disruption to national food supplies will only be temporary, according to analysts.

The so-called granary of China accounts for almost a third of the national wheat supply and around a tenth of the nation’s corn, vegetable and pork production.

But as of Monday, 972,100 hectares (2.4 million acres) of crop fields have been affected by the floods, raising concerns over food inflation and security.

While the region’s wheat season is over for this year, corn and vegetables yet to be harvested have become the latest victims.

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Central China begins clean-up after record floods but other other cities brace for typhoon

According to the Henan provincial government, the harvest yield across more than 40 per cent of the affected fields is set to fall by at least 30 per cent, with some 100,000 hectares set to lose 80 per cent or more.

Local authorities in Weihui, a county in northern Henan, said on Tuesday morning that floods in parts of the county had started to decline, but photos and videos taken by local residents showed water levels actually rose overnight.

One farmer from a nearby village, who did not want to be named, said the water had not receded and had reached over two metres (6.6 feet) at the deepest point.