China says it will try to protect its grain harvest from a record-setting drought by using rain-making chemicals, while factories in the southwest waited on Sunday to see if they would shut down for another week due to a lack of water for production hydroelectric power. The hottest and driest summer since the government began recording rainfall and temperature 61 years ago has withered crops and left reservoirs at half their normal water levels. Factories in Sichuan province closed last week to save energy for homes as demand for air conditioning surged, with temperatures reaching 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit). The next 10 days are a “key damage resistance period” for southern China’s rice crop, Agriculture Minister Tang Renjian said, according to the Global Times newspaper. Authorities will take emergency measures to “secure the fall grain harvest,” which is 75 percent of China’s annual total, Tang said on Friday, according to the report. Authorities will “try to increase rain” by seeding clouds with chemicals and spraying crops with a “water retention agent” to limit evaporation, Tang’s ministry said on its website. He did not give details on where this will take place. The turmoil adds to challenges for the ruling Communist Party, which is trying to shore up falling economic growth ahead of a meeting in October or November when President Xi Jinping is expected to try to award himself a third five-year term as leader. A smaller Chinese grain harvest would have a potential global impact. It would boost demand for imports, adding upward pressure to inflation in the United States and Europe that is at multi-decade highs. Also on Sunday, thousands of factories in Sichuan province that make solar panels, processor chips and other industrial products were waiting to hear whether last week’s six-day shutdown will be extended. A document circulated on social media and said to be from the Sichuan Department of Economic and Information Industry said the shutdown would be extended until Thursday, but there was no official confirmation. Calls to the finance ministry and the provincial government were not returned. A woman who answered the phone at the Sichuan branch of state-owned electricity company State Grid Ltd. said he hadn’t seen any notice about extending the shutdown. She wouldn’t say her name. The governments of Sichuan and neighboring Hubei province say thousands of hectares (acres) of crops are a total loss and millions have been damaged. The Hubei government declared a drought emergency on Saturday and said it would release disaster aid. The Sichuan government said 819,000 people were facing a shortage of drinking water. Sichuan has been hit hardest by the drought because it gets 80% of its power from hydroelectric dams. The provincial government says the reservoirs are at half their normal water level. He earlier called on manufacturers to “leave the power to the people”. Offices and shopping malls in Sichuan were ordered to turn off lights and air conditioning. The subway in Chengdu, the provincial capital, said it had turned off thousands of lights at stations. Meanwhile, other areas have experienced deadly flash floods. At least 26 people have been killed by floods in the northwestern province of Qinghai and five are missing, state television reported Sunday, citing local authorities. Mudslides and overflowing rivers late Thursday hit six villages in Datong County, according to earlier reports. About 1,500 people were forced to leave their homes.
