"North China should set aside adequate water for farmland irrigation while ensuring drinking water supply in rural and urban areas," Jiao
Meiyan, from the China Meteorological Administration, was quoted as saying. Several regions including Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Beijing and Tianjin had only 6.2 millimetres of rainfall this year – a 57-year low, Reuters reported.
Six million hectares of arable land in Heilongjiang province in the northeast could also face severe drought during the spring ploughing
season, the report added.
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