A man walks on a dried-up reservoir in Caoba Town of Mengzi County, southwest China's Yunnan province, March 1, 2010. Continual drought has hit the county of Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, since September 2009, resulting in serious water shortage. [Xinhua]

China's drought relief authorities warned Tuesday that the severe drought plaguing southwest China will worsen in March as weather forecasts predict the month's rainfall will be below average levels for corresponding periods in past years.

The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters revealed at an emergency meeting that as of Tuesday, 5,668 mu, or about 378 hectares, of crops had been affected in Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan provinces, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Chongqing Municipality.

The crop lands hit by the dry spell that started last autumn account for 86 percent of the national total. Moreover, 11 million people and 6.12 million livestock have been left short of drinking water, accounting for 73 percent and 66 percent of the national total respectively.

The meeting noted the top priority now is to ensure drinking water supplies to the local residents.

The seriousness, duration, areas affected and losses from the drought have rarely been seen in history, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said Friday.

China's central government has allocated 28.6 billion yuan, or US$4.2 billion, to support farmers. That funding was on top of 86.7 billion yuan of subsidy funding given to grain-growing farmers nationwide in February.

(CRIENGLISH.com March 3, 2010)