|
|
|
Rain does little for NSW
12 Jul 2004
New South Wales is still Australia's most drought-afflicted state. There was poor rainfall in June and the outlook for coming weeks is bleak. Although Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia all reported some improvement in dry conditions, the percentage of NSW that's drought-declared has risen from 79.5 per cent to 87.3 per cent in July. Some areas of the state received as few as three days' rain in June.
NSW farmers are hoping for at least 50mm of rain during the rest of July, to help boost an extra 600,000ha of winter crops sown.
In Western Australia, about half the state's farmlands are still drought-declared. In Queensland, the percentage of the state that's drought-declared has fallen from about two-thirds to 58 per cent. In Victoria, most of the state is receiving average rainfall, except for East Gippsland.
State primary industries ministers will hold a telephone hook-up conference this month to discuss drought issues; this will include the issue of an automatic rollover of the Federal Government's EC support.
The Australian, 12/7/04.
|
|
