After the wheat harvest and summer planting, the work on the fields is just fertilizing, weeding, and pest control. It is not tiring, and the children can help their families and herd cattle, sheep, geese, and ducks on Saturdays and Sundays when they have days off.
Since the first rain in summer, there has been no cloud in the sky for more than a month. A bright sun hangs in the clear blue sky, making people dizzy and sweating.
The fields were dry, and the people came up with many ways to draw water from the Wangtang ditches to water the roots of the seedlings in the fields.
In Honghua Township, several natural villages located on the mountainside have no spring water. For domestic use and water for raising livestock and poultry, people have to carry water up the mountain from the ditches at the foot of the mountain.
In the barren areas of the mountain, the leaves of the bushes drooped all day long, and the weeds below turned dry and yellow.
Fighting drought is the most urgent task in Honghua Township at present.
The township conveyed the spirit of the county's anti-drought meeting and required all full-time cadres to go down to the villages to guide the anti-drought work, and they must eat and live in the village until the anti-drought work is completed.
The county allocated 40 diesel pumps and 10 tons of planned diesel to Honghua Township. Honghua Township then used its connections to purchase 48 pumps from the provincial capital. According to the population and drought situation, 80 pumps were allocated to 41 administrative villages, and the township reserved 8 pumps to solve the water supply problems of primary and secondary schools and for emergency use.
The township also called on all villages to build dams to store river water, dig wells from ditches to draw water, use water scientifically to irrigate crops, and save water in daily life. A series of drought-resistant measures were quickly implemented throughout the township.
Sun Zongyuan accompanied Secretary Li Jianguo to visit several remote and extremely water-scarce mountain villages.
Seeing the dry ditch, the withered and yellowed ground, and the oxcarts pulling water, Li Jianguo sat down under a roadside locust tree whose leaves were almost completely shed, shook his straw hat, looked up at the sky and murmured:
"What can we do? Otherwise, we won't be able to harvest any grain or fruit in the second half of the year."
After a morning of understanding, Sun Zongyu also realized that the people had used all the measures to fight drought, but now there was no water in the ditches and ponds. The ponds were dug more than two meters deep and encountered the original soil, and not a drop of water flowed out.
"Secretary, can we apply to the Provincial Institute of Geological Exploration to send experts to select a site for us to dig a well?"
"Oh, your idea is good. Let's go and report to the leaders in the county and then go to the provincial capital tonight to find them!"
As Li Jianguo said this, he started riding his bicycle at high speed towards the county town.
It usually takes three hours to get to the county town by bicycle, but this time, he got there in two hours. When Li Jianguo found Secretary Wang Peizhong and told him about digging a well, Wang Peizhong slapped his head and said:
"Digging a well, why didn't I think of that?"
County Magistrate Sui Gang was randomly arranged to take the county's rescue letter and Li Jianguo to the provincial capital urgently.
Li Jianguo only remembered that he had not finished his meal when he sat in the car.
Sun Zongyuan watched County Magistrate Sui Gang's car drive out of the county party committee gate, and then returned to Secretary Wang Peizhong's office.
"Secretary Wang, besides going to the provincial capital, we can also ask the prefectural committee to help us dig wells in other areas that are not suffering from drought. Digging wells is quite expensive. Can we ask the prefecture to allocate some disaster relief funds for us?"
"Yes, please help the office draft a report as soon as possible. I will contact Secretary Li of the district."
Fifteen minutes later, Wang Peizhong, Sun Zongyuan and his secretary hurried to the Ganhe Prefectural Committee with the application for well digging and drought relief funds.
Secretary Li Chuanyou listened to Wang Peizhong's report, especially after Sun Zongyuan visited the countryside and saw the drought situation, and urgently arranged for the Prefectural Party Committee Office to call each county and city to inquire about the drought situation. Twenty minutes later, the Prefectural Party Committee Office brought the summarized data to report to Li Chuanyou:
"Drought is widespread across the region, particularly in the mountainous countryside of three western counties. More than 80,000 people and 90,000 livestock in 17 townships are struggling to get water, and 200,000 mu (approximately 1,000 acres) of farmland has seen its rice seedlings wither."
"Send Commissioner Sun Peiqing over."
After a while, Commissioner Sun came to Li Chuanyou's office with a notebook. Li Chuanyou asked Wang Peizhong to report on the drought in Anyang and then handed him the drought situation in the entire region:
"We need to report this drought to the Provincial Party Committee and request that they coordinate with relevant departments and drought-free areas to urgently support us. Old Sun, you will take the lead in coming up with a plan. Dispatching regional leaders and relevant departments to various counties and cities to support drought relief efforts. The region will allocate some funds specifically for drought relief. The Prefectural Party Committee will issue a notice to convene a drought relief meeting for prefectural-level cadres and relevant departments at 5:00 PM this afternoon. You arrange the work, and I'll be responsible for enforcing it!"
"Okay, I'll research and come up with a plan right away!"
"Zongyuan, you are on the front line of drought relief and know the situation down there. Please give me some advice."
"Okay, Commissioner Sun!"
The Ganhe Prefectural Committee held a drought relief work meeting at 5 pm.
Based on the report from Ganhe District, the Provincial Party Committee also coordinated the situation in various cities and found that the drought in three areas was showing a serious trend. After research, a provincial drought relief work meeting was held at 10 pm. The meeting required:
The province allocated 5 million yuan in drought relief funds and mobilized geological and mining departments across the province to dig wells and combat drought in severely affected areas. Urban road watering was temporarily suspended, and all watering vehicles were relocated to drought-stricken areas to ensure water for people and livestock. Regions not affected by drought were assigned to provide counterpart assistance to those in severe drought. At the same time, the province emphasized the importance of maintaining social stability, reducing the burden on farmers, and preventing forest fires.
The next day, the governor came to Ganhe area and was accompanied by the leaders of the Prefectural Party Committee to Honghua Township, Anyang County. The governor specifically visited the two natural villages where the drought was most severe. He immediately instructed that 100,000 yuan be allocated to Honghua Township, and that the Ganhe area fire brigade deliver water to 79 households in the two villages. He affirmed the measures taken by Honghua Township and Anyang County in drought relief and disaster relief, and praised their political acumen shown during this drought!
After inspecting the anti-drought work in the morning, Secretary Li Chuanyou accompanied the governor to inspect the individual pig farms in Honghua Township, Yuanda Pig Farm, Qianhe Food Factory, Yuanda Meat Processing Plant and Yuanda Electronics Factory. The governor watched and listened, and especially appreciated the fruitful development of the Honghua Economic Development Zone in Ganhe District. At the same time, he highly praised Anyang County for its ability to explore new ideas to attract funds from outside the province and cooperate with universities and colleges to carry out breeding, Chinese medicine research and development, poverty alleviation and other work. He said that after returning, he would summarize and study the development experience of Ganhe District, Anyang County and Honghua Township, and lead the province's sustained and rapid economic and social development.
It’s a very difficult problem, but it will become easy once you catch the boss.
With the implementation of the province's anti-drought measures and the strong support and cooperation of relevant departments, the water supply problem for people and livestock in Anyang County was solved, and some farmland and orchards with good conditions were also effectively irrigated. With a heavy rain twelve days later, the drought in the Ganhe area was completely resolved.
The Prefectural Committee also organized all counties to seize the favorable opportunity and replace the harvest-destroying land caused by drought with crops such as barley, sweet potatoes, and radishes.
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