Since the beginning of winter in 2010, some of north China’s provinces have been suffering from persistent droughts while some in the country’s south have been hit by heavy snow and icy rain, which has severely affected agriculture and animal husbandry. On January 18, 2011, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council made explicit arrangements on disaster prevention and relief at the fifth plenary meeting of the State Council.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Science and Technology has launched an emergency plan on disaster relief. To ensure food security and increase farmers’ income through science and technology, the following actions will be taken:

1.to send experts to disaster-hit areas to provide technical guidance;

2.to mobilize extension service personnel to serve the grass roots;

3.to enhance real-time disaster monitoring which provides accurate and timely information for government’s decision making;

to launch contingency research programs on technologies for disaster relief against drought, icy rain and heavy snow.