Drought affects six Chinese provinces

TAIYUAN, China, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Six northern and eastern Chinese provinces are suffering through prolonged droughts that have affected water supplies, officials say.

Nearly 1 million people, 160,000 head of livestock and agricultural crops are being affected in Shanxi, the worst-hit province, Xinhua, the state-run Chinese news agency, reported Wednesday.

Providing drinking water to the affected areas has been difficult, with officials saying no rain has fallen in Shanxi since October. The drought has affected 1.2 million acres of wheat, with 345,000 acres severely affected.

The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture told Xinhua Tuesday the six provinces -- which also include Shandong, Henan, Hebei, Anhui and Gansu -- in total had 13.4 million acres of drought-affected cropland, nearly five times more than the area hit by droughts last year.