The Ministry of Agriculture said on Wednesday that it would dispatch 10,000 agricultural technicians to snow-stricken provinces to help local farmers resume production.

The technicians would work in 10,000 villages in 10 provinces, including Hunan, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Sichuan, from early March through May.

China's worst spell of winter weather in five decades affected more than 15 million hectares of cropland.

The ministry said that the technicians would cooperate with local governments to reduce the impact of the bad weather and help with the spring ploughing.

They would also conduct face-to-face workshops with local farmers to solve technical problems during planting. Each farm household would be provided with technical material, training and consulting.

(Xinhua News Agency February 28, 2008)