▲ A reservoir with a cracked bed (The photo above is unrelated to the article content.)
"If it doesn't rain by Cheoseo (the 23rd), we'll have to give up farming altogether this year. I've been farming here for 40 years, and I've never seen a drought like this."
At 10:30 a.m. yesterday (the 10th) in Ungdong-ri, Muan-myeon, Miryang-si, Gyeongsangnam-do.
Jin (76, female), a farmer gazing at a severely cracked rice paddy under the scorching sun, let out a deep sigh.
Jin, who has cultivated rice, sweet potatoes, and beans here for over 40 years, lamented, "Even when water trucks come several times a day to pour water, the ground is so dry and cracked that it makes no difference."
Around the upcoming Cheoseo term, rice plants should be heading, and a sense of desperation lingered that unless heavy rain pours down within a few days, there is no way to salvage this year's harvest.
Indeed, on this day, the paddy fields were severely cracked like turtle shells, and some of the rice plants that should be growing green had their leaf tips turning yellow and drooping weakly.
Although 1.1 mm of rain fell in the Miryang area on August 8 to 9, farmers shook their heads, calling it "nowhere near enough."
Choi (84, male), a farmer in the same village, said, "Right now is when rice plants need water the most. Without water at this time, the rice cannot grain properly and will inevitably end up as empty hulls."
He sighed bitterly after appealing that in severe areas the rice has already completely dried up, and since it is not raining, drawing water to the paddies by any means necessary is the most urgent task.
According to the Korea Rural Community Corporation's Rural Water Comprehensive Information System, the water storage rate of Ungdong Reservoir, which supplies agricultural water to this village, stood at a mere 2.6 percent that day.
Compared to the average storage rate of 72.7 percent for normal years, this is about 3.6 percent of the usual level.
The water level gauge indicating the depth of the reservoir stood plainly exposed out of the water, with only shallow water remaining below it.
The reservoir bed exposed due to the lack of water was also cracked like a turtle shell.
Kim (67, male), a farmer who gazed at the reservoir for a long time, raised his voice, saying, "I've been farming for 50 years, and while droughts come once every 7 to 8 years, this year is the worst. A drizzle won't do; it needs to pour heavily to be of any help."
Not only rice farming but also field farming is in a state of emergency.
While perilla leaf farms in vinyl greenhouses located in Sanoe-myeon and Danjang-myeon, Miryang-si, are in relatively better shape as they are well-equipped with irrigation facilities, farms growing perilla leaves in open fields are suffering greatly from a severe lack of water.
The situation in the neighboring county of Changnyeong, where the daytime high temperature hit 32°C (90°F), was quite similar.
The water storage rate of Okcheon Reservoir, which supplies agricultural water around Jeonpyeong village, dropped to 1.9 percent.
This is about 2.3 percent of the average normal storage rate of 79.9 percent. Only thin streams of water remained in the reservoir, with most of the moisture dried up and the gray bottom clearly exposed.
A farmer met in Changnyeong showed a photo of his rice paddy turning brown and expressed his earnest wish, saying, "Rice that has turned brown is already completely ruined. A pretty halo formed around the sun in the sky today, and I just hope it brings some refreshing rain."
The agricultural water situation in the Gyeongnam region is worsening by the day.
Following Miryang on the 9th, Haman and Geoje also entered the "severe" stage for agricultural water drought on this day.
These three cities and counties are currently the only regions nationwide facing the "severe" agricultural water drought stage.
The drought situation is also affecting the daily lives of residents.
In 26 villages including island areas in Tongyeong and Goseong where wide-area water supply is not available, authorities are implementing nighttime water rationing or mobilizing water supply ships and bottled water to provide living water.
Gyeongsangnam-do and the Korea Rural Community Corporation are continuing their response to the drought by pumping water from the Nakdong River and local streams, and mobilizing groundwater and water trucks to supply agricultural water.
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