The torrential rains have devastated crops on about 70,000 hectares of land in Guangdong province alone. Beijing government has declared an emergency and issued a red alert in at least eight Southern provinces as the heavy rains are concentrated in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. This can make the situation worse as the rainstorm is moving northward. Several parts of Guangdong were submerged, which not only caused damage to farmlands but forced thousands to migrate.

Notably, prolonged droughts have become a major concern in northern China. Temperatures continue to hover around 40 degrees Celsius in June which is a month of harvest and sowing the next batch of crops. "Everything is dry," said Bao Mingchen, a Chinese farmer, who could not sow seeds due to no rain. Bao is from Jilin province. The major wheat-producing province of Henan has reported 70 percent lower production this year due to drought.

The government has issued a warning about the risk of extreme droughts in northern and central provinces affecting crop production. “I don’t really fear the heat wave, but I do worry a lot about the continuing drought,” said Guo, a Chinese farmer. He expressed concern over the absence of rains, which he said had marred prospects of good yield. Farmers in China called the drought conditions very severe. A woman farmer named Wang said herb plants she grew were withered. “The bottom half is dead already. There are a few sprouts at the top but they’re also about to dry up,” she said.

The extreme drought is expected to affect 300 million in China as extreme heat continues to persist in several parts of the country. While southern parts are slammed by torrential rains, northern and central China is reeling under heat waves. According to the government warnings, crop seedlings of soybean and maize are at high risk of being damaged in several provinces including Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan, Shandong and Anhui.

The state-run financial paper Economic Daily has painted a gloomy picture as erratic weather patterns such as frequent and intense droughts and incessant and untimely rains have created problems for China’s food production. “In the past two years, extreme weather has been more common, with frequent droughts and floods, and pests and diseases are becoming more severe, posing a severe situation for disaster prevention and reduction in agriculture,” its article read.

A few months ago, some parts of China witnessed the longest cold waves since 1951. These posed risks to the production of vegetables and oilseed crops such as soybeans, rapeseed and peanuts. “The country has continued to experience extreme meteorological disasters and several sudden temperature drops, which has had a great impact on our vegetable production,” said the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, which rushed to help farmers facing serious damages to their crops due to record-breaking cold wave.

Heavy snowfall during the extreme cold wave had a bearing on livestock production as well as wheat production, said Chinese commodity consultancy firm Mysteel. China is the largest wheat-producing country but also its largest consumer. Changing food habits and the responsibility to feed one-fifth of the global population have made China’s goal of food security challenging.

Now the extreme weather patterns occurring simultaneously have the potential to derail Beijing’s attempt to achieve self-sufficiency in crop production and food availability. China faced threats to its food security when the Covid-19 pandemic caused disruptions in the global supply chain. Beijing had planned to slash imports and improve local crop production. However, the adverse weather affecting the crop-producing areas spoilt the plan for now.