Analysis on variation tendency and cause of China's agrometeorological hazards in the latest 20 years

Based on data from the China Statistical Yearbooks (2014), the Bulletin of Flood and Drought Disasters in China (2014), the China's Meteorological Disaster Yearbook, and the China Meteorological Yearbook, etc., we have conducted an analysis of the variation tendency and cause of main meteorological disasters affecting the agricultural production in China from 1995 to 2014 using statistical and comprehensive analysis methods. The results indicate that there are overall decreasing trends in both affected areas and injured areas of China's agriculture. The areas affected by rainstorm floods and droughts present a greater fluctuation with major flood occurring once every 5 years and major drought once every 10 years, while the damage areas of hail and frost only present a small changes. The uneven temporal and spacial distribution of annual rainfall caused by atmospheric circulation anomaly is the key reason for flood and drought disasters affecting China's agricultural production. The research proposes that the effective measures for ensuring agricultural production in the climate-changing context and abating meteorological disasters would lie in the accelerated development of meteorological disasters prevention projects, the further exploitation of disaster warning systems, the rational conversion of farmlands into forests, as well as the adjustment of the agricultural production layout, which is also the social reason for the overall declining trend of damage areas of agro-meteorological disasters in China in last 20 years.