United Sates

About 43 per cent of California has been declared as being in severe drought. Three dry years and restrictions on water pumped to farms have cut irrigation supplies to farmers, resulting in rising unemployment. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has urged that California be declared a major federal disaster area and wants President Obama to reconsider sending aid. In Texas, a vast region reels under the impact of a scorching drought, two million cattle are stricken while one county has lost its entire cotton crop, resulting in losses of millions of dollars. Abnormally dry conditions also prevail in north Virginia and parts of north Iowa.

China

The worst drought to hit northern China in six decades has left more than 4.5 million people short of water, and with its spread, more than four million heads of livestock are at risk and 8.67 million hectares of crops seriously affected. The provinces of Hubei and Hunan in central China, hit by low rainfall and high temperatures, face the risk of another drought. The Ministry of Agriculture has raised a third-level emergency response to the drought and dispatched teams to organise and guide anti-drought efforts in the worst affected regions.

Australia

An eight-year-long “big dry”, the worst drought in a century, has hit the Murray-Darling river system, which irrigates Australia’s food bowl, severely. As the drought rages on, parts of the mighty river that writer Mark Twain likened to the Mississippi, have become mere stagnant pools, with their banks eroding. Climate change, fertiliser run-off and decades of wasteful irrigation practices have been cited as causes for the decline of the river. Overall, there has been a 10 per cent decrease in people engaged in farming in the country.

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