The earthquake in southwest China has seriously affected agricultural production in Sichuan and other disaster-hit regions, said a senior official from the Ministry of Agriculture on Saturday.

The quake, which also triggered landslides in the mountainous province, damaged 33,333 hectares of farmland, including more than 10,000 hectares of wheat and rape and more than 20,000 hectares of vegetables in 13 worst-hit cities and counties, said Wei Chaoan, Vice Agriculture Minister, at a press conference.

As the disaster also destroyed irritation systems in some areas, up to 100,000 hectares of rice paddies might have to be used to grow alternative crops, he said.

"A large amount of farming facilities, including more than 20,000 farm machines, were damaged," Wei said. He admitted the repair work would be "very difficult".

As the country's leading agricultural province, Sichuan provided 6 percent of the nation's total grain output, including 5 percent of the national total summer grains, 8 percent of the total oil crops and 5 percent of the total vegetable production, said Wei.

He said the 12.5 million head of poultry and livestock killed in the quake were mostly poultry. The poultry losses were a small fraction of the 1.5 billion birds that the province aimed to produce in 2008.

The death toll from the powerful earthquake in Sichuan has risen to 28,881 nationwide as of 2 p.m. Saturday, while 198,347 people were injured, according to the Information Office of the State Council.

(Xinhua News Agency May 17, 2008)