NE China suffers spring floods

There is an old saying in Chinese - "A timely snow promises a good harvest". It emphasizes just how significant moist soil is for ploughing the land. But when there's too much snow, then things can quickly turn the opposite.

You really can't tell the difference between these plots of lands and a fishpond. And what is worse: there isn't much that can be done.

The spring ploughing season is the time farmers are busy sowing seeds. But frequent snowfalls since last winter have left much of the farmland in the northeast badly flooded. If we take a close look, the mud is soaking wet.

As we walk further down the field, our boots sink deeper and get bogged down in all the sticky mud. It's almost the end of April which should be the busiest month on the farming calendar. But everything is still.

Jia Lin, farmer in Changtu county, Liaoning province, said, "We are already running behind schedule, so we have to work on the dry land while waiting for water in the flooded ones to recede. Additional cultivators will be needed to catch up with the delay."

Over the past winter, all of China's three northeastern provinces have experienced the worst snowfall and blizzards in almost 50 years. They have kept spring at bay, as the average temperature here is just above freezing. Farmers are burdened with making sure the mid-day warmth of the sun can reach the hidden ice and snow in the fields.

Gu Jinfu, farmer in Changtu county, said, "I've been doing this for 4 days now, there's ice everywhere. The temperature is still low, but the direct sun light can melt it quickly."

Since no farming can be done in the flooded fields, people are preparing their equipment and looking for alternatives.

Jia said, "We've thought about planting other crops like soy beans and grains, but it's too late to change now."

And if there's no end to the flooding over the next 1-2 weeks, this ploughing season will have gone to waste.