World Food Day on October 16 is an occasion to promote global awareness of hunger and the need to mitigate food insecurity. In China, the eastern province of Jiangxi is one of the country's major grain production hubs. But this year, it's faced an extended drought. Luo Laiming tells us how farmers found ways to secure their harvests and their income.

In Guixi of southeast China's Jiangxi Province, a prolonged summer drought has brought down some reservoir water levels by nearly half.

WU RENGANG Head of Tacheng Garden Farm "Since August, we've been rallying farmers to take drought relief measures and secure outputs. We've dug more than 200 wells to reduce the impact on our tangerine orchards."

So far, local farmers have added over 400 wells across Guixi, which officials say save about 200 million yuan, or nearly 28 million U.S. dollars, that would have been lost to the drought.

Meanwhile, in Wan'an County, the farmers' cooperatives have dispatched large machines to speed up harvest work in affected rice fields.

BAO LEWEN Civil Servant, Baoshan Township "We've coordinated more than 20 harvesters to speed things up in the field. This would give us time and space to plant vegetables for extra yield and income when the field becomes available again."

Not too far away in Jishui County, farmers are planting potatoes in place of the usual double-crop rice. They say this is because potatoes grow faster, need less water, and are likely to produce a good yield by November.

In regions where conditions are suitable for double-crop rice, authorities have sent experts to help farmers.

SHU JINGUI Director Agricultural Techniques Promotion Center Poyang County "As temperatures drop and the north wind sets in, we are guiding the farmers to adopt cold-resistant measures, including the use of irrigation, fertilizers and plant growth regulators, all to provide good conditions for grain filling."

Jiangxi is one of only two provinces that have continuously supplied surplus grains to the rest of the country since 1949. Despite adverse weather conditions, Jiangxi officials say prevention and relief efforts have led to higher rice production compared to last year, with 42,000 more tons in early-season harvests and 10,000 more tons in the summer. Luo Laiming, CGTN, Jiangxi Province.