(Yicai) Aug. 7 -- Wuchang in northeastern Heilongjiang province, which is one of China’s top five rice-producing areas, has been battered by the torrential rain that has recently fallen on the region. With just one month to go until the autumn rice harvest, some farmers expect the yield to be half that of usual.

Many paddy fields were submerged in water as over 100 millimeters of rain a day was dumped on the city in early August as Typhoon Doksuri swept through and some 20,000 residents were evacuated. But the downpour has now stopped and farmers are returning to count their losses, Yicai learned.

This year's rice harvest will be around half that of previous years, and the price will go up, said a female farmer called Xiaojing. The city produced 1.9 million tons last year. But the crop would have been affected even without the heavy rains as the temperature is very cool, she said.

Many paddy fields are still swamped although the rainfall has stopped, said a farmer called Erchengzi, who lives in Wuchang’s Lvjia village. Flooded paddies will not be able to produce any rice this year, he said.

Erchengzi farms three hectares of rice fields, but only a fraction of them survived the flood. His losses are expected to come to over CNY100,000 (USD13,904).

Xiaojing was more fortunate. She operates 33.3 hectares of rice fields on Longfeng mountain, four fifths of which were unaffected.

Merchants based in Wuchang are selling their rice online to reduce losses, Yicai noticed. Grain store Ketuo has not raised its prices yet and is selling five kilograms of Wuchang rice for CNY80 (USD11).

The rice will not be badly affected if the excess water can be drained away in one or two days, The Paper reported today, citing Wang Jingguo, deputy dean at College of Agriculture at the Northeast Agricultural University.

But the flood may bring huge kinetic energy which will wear down the rice and affect photosynthesis, as well as a lot of silt which will change the soil structure, Wang said.

Editor: Kim Taylor