China on alert for cold weather damage to spring vegetable crops
- Agricultural teams have been dispatched to assess damage and advise farmers
- Production areas have been hit by a series of cold waves with more frosty temperatures expected this week
Agricultural advisers have been sent out across China to help farmers minimise damage from freezing weather to their spring vegetable crops.
The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences said on Friday that 40 teams of experts had fanned out across the country to assess damage and offer technical advice.
“The country has continued to experience extreme meteorological disasters and several sudden temperature drops, which has had a great impact on our vegetable production,” said the academy, a research organisation affiliated with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.
Authorities are expecting more low temperatures this week, with the National Meteorological Centre issuing its highest alert for cold temperatures on Sunday for a third straight day.
Daily average or minimum temperatures in parts of central-southern and northwestern China are expected to be 5 to 7 degrees Celsius lower than seasonal norms from Sunday through to Wednesday morning, according to the centre.
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The academy said that in some northern parts of the country, production of cucumbers and capsicums was expected to fall by 10 to 20 per cent.