Farmland Parched and Cracked... Farmers Go to Extreme Lengths as Drought Deepens

[Anchor]

We continue with news on the drought hitting the southern regions. As the dry spell worsens day by day, an emergency has been declared for agricultural water supplies. Reservoirs have already dried up to the bottom, and farmers are even digging up riverbeds just to pull up groundwater.

Reporter Kim Su-yun brings us the report from the field.

[Reporter]

A reservoir in Miryang, Gyeongsangnam-do.

The reservoir floor is cracked like a turtle's shell.

Even the traces of flowing water in the waterways connected to the reservoir have completely disappeared.

Unable to supply water, the rice paddies are severely cracked, and rice leaves have withered and turned yellow.

[Shin Young-kwon / Muan-myeon, Miryang, Gyeongsangnam-do: Look at those dry paddies up there. If it doesn't rain, it's the end.]

Water is being pumped from nearby streams into the reservoir, but it is far from enough.

The reservoir storage rate in the Gyeongsangnam-do region stands at 33%, which is less than half of the normal year's level.

In particular, Miryang's reservoir storage rate is at 25%, the most severe level in Gyeongsangnam-do.

[Jung Su-hong / Head of Muan-myeon, Miryang, Gyeongsangnam-do: We are mobilizing all available resources to pump raw water from streams to three different reservoir locations.]

Some areas have even resorted to digging pits in the parched riverbeds.

After digging the riverbed 2 to 3 meters deep, they are trying to gather and supply even the groundwater flowing beneath the surface to nearby farmlands.

The groundwater pumped from this pit dug in the middle of the stream is gathered at this pumping station via water pumps.

The water gathered here is then sent once again to nearby farmlands.

Drought has begun in 58 cities and counties nationwide, with the majority concentrated in Gyeongsangnam-do.

Among the 18 cities and counties in Gyeongsangnam-do, 17 are under agricultural water drought status, with three of them at the severe stage.

[Shin O-shik / Muan-myeon, Miryang, Gyeongsangnam-do: If it continues not to rain like this, it will likely be extremely difficult to harvest this year's rice and field crops.]

Gyeongsangnam-do has compiled data showing that heatwave and drought damage has occurred across 1,800 hectares of farmland in the province, an area equivalent to 2,500 soccer fields.

(Camera Reporter: Jung Kyeong-moon | Designer: Kim Min-young)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.