Chinese Rural and Agricultural Scenes

3. Winter Wheat

Nationwide in 1999, droughts have hit 10 million hectares (24.7 million acres) of wheat fields in the major wheat-producing northern provinces of Henan, Hebei, Sha'anxi, and Shanxi. There some wheat crops have already begun to whither, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. The drought and the warm weather have also sparked a spread of more pests and plant diseases. In Central China's Henan Province, for example, 1.8 million hectares (4.45 million acres) of wheat have been hit by plant diseases and pests -- twice the average of recent years. Picture by my friend Dot Garlow.