At the end of March, about 21m hectares of farmland, 10 per cent of China’s total, was affected by drought, according to a report by China’s Anti-drought and Anti-flood Headquarters. Worst affected was Jilin province in northeast China, where around 2m hectares were suffering from the worst spring drought for 20 years and the sowing of crops for the autumn harvest was under threat.
In Shandong province, drought has left nearly 2m people without adequate drinking water. It has also affected 1.8m hectares of crops and some 500,000 head of livestock.