NSW: New drought figures show big dry easing
11 Jan 2009 12:36 PM
The big dry is easing in New South Wales .. and a bumper crop's reported for 2008.
Figures just out show regions now in satisfactory condition have climbed from 30.2 per cent to 37.6 per cent.
But 53.3 per cent of the state remains in drought and farmers are being warned to be on alert for the next wave of locust hatchings .. particularly in the state's south.
Primary Industries Minister IAN MACDONALD says the good news is that the 2008 crop's more than double that of the previous year .. just over nine million tonnes of mostly wheat produced from an estimated four and a half million hectares harvested.
He says long-range weather forecasts predict a slightly above average level of rainfall for autumn and winter.
