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China food security: floods leave grain crops filthy, inviting pests and disease as Typhoon Khanun looms

  • Reeling from one storm and bracing for another, farmers in Heilongjiang province have appeared on social media begging for help protecting their crops, including rice
  • Harvest appears to be affected, and severe weather conditions like these are posing challenges to China’s food-security drive

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A woman stands in floodwaters near a damaged corn farm in China’s Hebei province on Monday after Typhoon Doksuri hit. Photo: Reuters

Farmers across a region known as China’s northern granary are pleading for help to mitigate crop damage from floods as Typhoon Khanun threatens output with more heavy rainfall that could bring bugs and blight.

Water levels across Heilongjiang province have been falling since Monday after Typhoon Doksuri caused flooding across northern China since Friday, but farmers are struggling to rescue the most affected crops in the nation’s top grain-producing region.

In two days, videos uploaded by farmers asking for assistance went viral on Chinese social media, as they feared that all of the silt that has accumulated on blossoming rice crops could reduce yields.

“We want to use a high-pressure water gun to flush the silt off, but this is too much work, and we desperately need help from real experts from all fields,” a Heilongjiang woman said in one of the videos.

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Rescue operations continue after severe flooding in northern China from Typhoon Doksuri

Rescue operations continue after severe flooding in northern China from Typhoon Doksuri

Typhoon Doksuri hit China’s northeastern provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning, known as the country’s breadbasket. They contributed more than one-fifth of the country’s grain production, one-fourth of the country’s grain commodities, and one-third of its grain export last year, data from the State Council shows.

Mia Nulimaimaiti (Miyessar Nurmamat in Uygur) joined the Post in August 2022. She obtained a master's degree from The University of Hong Kong in 2022 and a bachelors degree at Fudan University in 2021. She interned at NBC's Asia desk before joining the Post. Her areas of focus are trade, macroeconomics and EU-China relations.
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