A severe drought in north and northeast China is threatening 125 million mu (8.3 million hectares) of crops, the Ministry of Agriculture said on Saturday in an online statement.

About 38.4 million mu of crops are seriously affected by the drought in the provinces of Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang and Shanxi and in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, which produces a combined 30 percent of the country's autumn grain output, said Wei Chao'an, Vice Minister of Agriculture, in the statement.

The drought quickly expanded in north and northeast China since late July, as a result of insufficient rainfall and continued high temperatures.

The ministry raised a third-level emergency response on Saturday to the drought, and asked local governments to struggle to put possible output reduction at the minimum.

It has dispatched three working teams to organize and instruct anti-drought efforts in the worst-hit Liaoning, Jilin and Inner Mongolia.

According to He Lifu, chief forecaster of the National Meteorological Center, rainfalls are expected in drought regions from Monday to Wednesday to alleviate the disaster.

(Xinhua News Agency August 16, 2009)