Yu Dynasty Yingdala (4338-4636)

[Wu Han]

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1 September 4328

Drought Persists In Northern Anle

Farmers examine their lost crops

DAWEI, Anle -- Since June, farmers claim that “drought’s hot breath has been burning through the final green inch of every plant stem" in Northern Anle. It would appear that this is the truth, and will continue to be true for the foreseeable future.

Indeed, Northeast Anle is experiencing the worst drought in the country.

Located 300 km south of the Tebie Desert, Dawei Village has had issues in the past with soil fertility and precipitation, but nothing quite like this. Overall crop yield is down 89.4% from last year. In what is already one of the most impoverished, desolate regions of Indrala, the effect that this drought has had on the people who rely on their crops is enormous. "Look how thin!" Lin Kang, 88, cries as she points at her gaunt 8 year-old grandson, "he needs rice, but we have no rice!"

With a population of 4,100, the village is also home to the highest percentage of illiterate people in Indrala at 44%. Thus, economic diversification for the small village is near impossible, nor is it desired: "My father farmed on this land, and so did his father, and his father before him. I cannot leave" (Hao Shiwen, 76)

In response to the drought, the government is reintroducing its "Green Sprouts Program" to provide demand-based subsidies for farmers which would provide at least a small amount of capital to the struggling farmers in Dawei, though some have criticized that it is not adequate to provide output-based subsidies during a drought.

Luckily the drought is not affecting the broader Indralan agricultural sector.

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Originally posted by Wu Han on 5 January 2018.