(Yicai Global) July 30 -- Although the recent floods in China’s central Henan province have caused huge crop losses in the affected areas, the impact on the country’s annual grain production should be limited, according to a government official.

The foundation for a good harvest still exists, in view of the better autumn crop growth, Pan Wenbo, planting administration director at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said at a press conference on agricultural disaster relief held today by the State Council Information Office.

The occurrence of disasters in most areas is still lighter than the previous year, although agricultural disasters in some parts of the country are very severe, he said.

The total crop area affected nationwide was about 63 million mu (42 billion square meters) from January to July, down more than 90 million mu from the same period last year, or 120 million mu less than the average in the same period over the past five years, Pan said, citing ministry statistics.

Even in Henan, where the disaster-hit area reached 14.5 million mu, among a total area of autumn grain of 75 million mu, the loss of grain production is expected to be offset to a certain extent by growth in output in non-disaster areas, he said.

Fall Crops

Meanwhile, the total planting area of autumn grain across China is expected to increase somewhat to 1.29 billion mu this year, Pan added. In particular, the maize planting area has increased significantly.

As of yesterday, some 14.5 million mu of farm crops had been affected by the flooding in Henan, he said.

The yields in 9.4 million mu of sown area are expected to be reduced by over 30 percent, and those of 5.5 million mu are expected to be slashed by more than 80 percent. The crops affected are mainly maize, peanuts and soybeans. The disaster is still evolving amid farmland drainage difficulties due to high river water levels in some areas, Pan noted.

The central government has allocated CNY100 million (USD15.5 million) for disaster relief in Henan, and has coordinated financial institutions to support the province’s farmers to resume production post-disaster, it was revealed at the press conference.

The ministry has also sent a working group to the deluged area to guide and help farmers resume production, Pan said, adding that water has been drained from 11.9 million mu of stricken farmland so far.

The impact of the heavy rains and floods in Henan on the grain market is local and temporary, and the effects on national grain production and supply will be limited, according to Tang Ke, head of the ministry’s department of market and informatization.

Livestock Losses

In addition, the recent floods in Henan and typhoons in some eastern coastal areas have caused heavy losses to the livestock industry in some regions, Yang Zhenhai, director of the ministry’s animal husbandry and veterinary bureau, told reporters.

A total of 248,000 pigs have been killed, with 45,000 deaths of large livestock and sheep, 6.446 million deaths of poultry, and direct economic losses of CNY2.25 billion (USD348 million), he added.

However, the impact of the disasters on China’s livestock rearing is limited. For example, although the disasters caused 248,000 hog deaths, compared with the national stock of 439 million at the end of June, the number is still very small, Yang pointed out.

Henan is one of China’s main agricultural provinces. Its wheat output ranks first nationwide, making up about 30 percent of the country’s total.

Fall crops such as maize, soybeans, peanuts, and sorghum are also major grain varieties in the province. The annual output of maize is about 20 million tons, ranking among the top five in the country, and peanut output is more than for most provinces.

Henan’s fall grain output totaled 30.72 million tons last year, making up about 6.15 percent of the nation’s total autumn grain output last year, per data from the Henan Bureau of Statistics.

Editor: Peter Thomas