The greatest drought in five decades has hit many provinces in China. According to current data, 43 percent of the winter wheat is affected by the disaster. The drought has spread in the country's wheat heartland and cut off drinking water for nearly 4 million people and 1.85 million head of livestock, the government announced this week. An area across China totalling 9.67 million hectares has been affected, with estimated precipitation levels 70 to 90 percent lower than in normal years.
A woman cleans vegetable in a partially dried-up pond on the outskirts of Yingtan, Jiangxi province February 6, 2009. Drought-hit areas of northern central China are likely to see some rain over the weekend, Yu Xinwen, spokesman for China Meteorological Administration, said in a webcast on Friday. REUTERS/Stringer
A farmer carries pails to transport water from a partially dried-up pond at the outskirts of Yingtan, Jiangxi province February 5, 2009. China has declared an emergency over a drought which could devastate crops and farmers' incomes, official media said on Thursday, threatening further hardship amid slumping economic growth. REUTERS/Stringer
A local resident walks on a dried-up riverbed of the Yangtze River in Wuhan, Hubei province February 7, 2009. China's main wheat crop may yet emerge mostly unscathed from a dire drought as Beijing moves to fund last-minute irrigation, reviving crops that might otherwise have been left to die by farmers struggling with low prices and oversupply. REUTERS/Stringer
Xiliu Lake in the western suburbs of Zhengzhou City has dried up (Epoch Times Archive)
A farmer displays a rapeseed plant withered due to lack of water and frost, in a field on the outskirts of Zhengzhou, Henan province, February 2, 2009. A severe drought in northern China has spread in the country's wheat heartland and cut off drinking water for nearly 4 million people, the government said. REUTERS/Stringer
A farmer carries a pitchfork as he collects firewood in his field located near his house in the village of Da Shi Men, around 80 kilometres (50 miles) northeast of Beijing February 2, 2009. Severe drought in northern China has spread in the country's wheat heartland and cut off drinking water for nearly 4 million people and 1.85 million head of livestock, the government announced this week. An area across China totalling 9.67 million hectares has been affected, with estimated precipitation levels 70 to 90 percent lower than in normal years. REUTERS/David Gray
A farmer collects firewood in his field located near his house in the village of Da Shi Men, around 80 kilometres (50 miles) northeast of Beijing February 2, 2009. REUTERS/David Gray
A farmer rides on a cart being pulled by a donkey after collecting firewood in his field near the village of Da Shi Men, around 80 kilometres (50 miles) northeast of Beijing February 2, 2009. REUTERS/David Gray
A farmer drives a water tanker past drought-affected fields after filling it up at a local well on his way to deliver water to a village farmhouse at Houyan, located around 400 kilometres (248 miles) south of Beijing February 5, 2009. Drought-hit areas of northern central China are likely to see some rain over the weekend, Yu Xinwen, spokesman for China Meteorological Administration, said in a webcast on Friday. REUTERS/David Gray
Villagers queue up to receive drinking water from the local government at Zhanghe village in Guanzhen town at Ruyang county in Luoyang, in China's Henan province Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2009. China declared an emergency Thursday in eight provinces suffering a serious drought that has left nearly 4 million people without proper drinking water and is threatening millions of acres of crops. (AP Photo/Color China Photo)
A Chinese farmer shows the dry roots from plants on his drought-stricken wheat field in Xian, in north China's Shanxi province on February 5, 2009. China has raised its drought emergency to the highest level for the first time as a dry spell spreads, leaving millions with little or no water and threatening wheat supplies, state media said. (AFP/AFP/Getty Images)
A young girl plays on a dry riverbed in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan province on February 5, 2009. A severe drought in northern China considered the country's breadbasket has hit almost 43 percent of the country's wheat crop this winter, senior officials have warned. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
A child plays with dead clams on a dried-up riverbed on the outskirts of Zhengzhou, Henan province February 5, 2009. China has declared an emergency over a drought which could devastate crops and farmers' incomes, official media said on Thursday, threatening further hardship amid slumping economic growth. REUTERS/Donald Chan
Residents queue to receive drinking water from the local government at Zhanghe village of Ruyang County, Henan province February 4, 2009. REUTERS/Donald Chan
A farmer works in a drought-ridden field located next to a dried-up irrigation canal near the village of Houyan, located around 400 kilometres (248 miles) south of Beijing February 5, 2009. China has declared an emergency over a drought which could devastate crops and farmers' incomes, official media said on Thursday, threatening further hardship amid slumping economic growth. The drought gripping parts of central and northern China has sent Zhengzhou wheat futures prices up 5 percent this week but physical prices have not moved, with most investors confident the country's reserves and last year's big harvest can offset any fall in wheat production this spring. REUTERS/David Gray
A shepherd watches over his flock of goats and sheep on a drought-ridden field near the village of Houyan, located around 400 kilometres (248 miles) south of Beijing February 5, 2009. REUTERS/David Gray
A shepherd watches over his flock of goats and sheep on a drought-ridden field near the village of Houyan, located around 400 kilometres (248 miles) south of Beijing February 5, 2009.
REUTERS/David Gray
A shepherd watches over his flock of goats and sheep on a drought-ridden field near the village of Houyan, located around 400 kilometres (248 miles) south of Beijing February 5, 2009. REUTERS/David Gray
Chinese soldiers use washbasins to help irrigate crops in a field at Hejie village in Xuchang in China's Henan province Friday, Feb. 6, 2009. The People's Liberation Army deployed over 1,000 soldiers to help irrigate crops in Xuchang. China has declared a top-level emergency for the country's worst drought in five decades that has hit eight wheat-growing northern provinces and left more than 4 million people without proper drinking water. (AP Photo/Color China Photo)
A farmer dredges to irrigate a drought wheat field at a village in Xiaxian county in Yuncheng, Shanxi province February 5, 2009. REUTERS/Stringer
Farmers carry barrels of water for their daily use at a village on the outskirts of Xiaolangdi, Henan province February 6, 2009. China's national Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief this week declared a "level 2" emergency, warning of a "severe drought rarely seen in history", the People's Daily reported. REUTERS/Stringer
armers carry barrels of water for their daily use at a village on the outskirts of Xiaolangdi, Henan province February 6, 2009. REUTERS/Stringer
A farmer irrigates a drought-hit wheat field on the outskirts of the town of Hengshui, Henan province February 6, 2009. REUTERS/Stringer
A farmer digs a trench to allow water to irrigate his field planted with winter wheat crop near the village of Lidong, located around 350 kilometres (217 miles) south of Beijing February 5, 2009. REUTERS/David Gray
A farmer digs a trench to allow water to irrigate his field planted with winter wheat crop near the village of Lidong, located around 350 kilometres (217 miles) south of Beijing February 5, 2009. REUTERS/David Gray
A farmer walks over a dried-up irrigation canal that runs through drought-affected fields near the village of Houyan, located around 400 kilometres (248 miles) south of Beijing February 5, 2009. REUTERS/David Gray
A farmer drives a water tanker past drought-affected fields after filling it up at a local well on his way to deliver water to a village farmhouse at Houyan, located around 400 kilometres (248 miles) south of Beijing February 5, 2009. Drought-hit areas of northern central China are likely to see some rain over the weekend, Yu Xinwen, spokesman for China Meteorological Administration, said in a webcast on Friday. REUTERS/David Gray
A girl looks at the empty Luhun Major Canal in Yichuan county in central China's Henan province Friday, Feb. 6, 2009. China will give $12 billion to help wheat-growing communities across the country's northern region survive their worst drought in five decades, state media reported Saturday. (AP Photo)
A farmer rests beside a small canal he dug to channel water released from the Luhun Reservoir to his field of rapeseed in Song county in central China's Henan province Friday Feb. 6, 2009. He came to his field at 3.00 am in preparation for the release of the water. (AP Photo)
A farmer digs a trench to allow water to irrigate his field planted with winter wheat crop near the village of Lidong, located around 350 kilometres (217 miles) south of Beijing February 5, 2009. REUTERS/David Gray
A farmer stands in a field of rapeseed plants withered due to lack of water in Jinan, in China's Shandong province on Friday, Feb. 6, 2009.
(AP Photo/Color China Photo)
People parade near dried up farmland as a pray for good weather in Yuzhong county in northwest China's Gansu province, on the day of 'the start of spring' according to Chinese lunar calendar, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2009. A serious drought in at least eight Chinese provinces is threatening large crop-growing areas. (AP Photo)
Map shows drought-hit region in China:
