A villager drives a bullock cart across a dried-up pond in Luliang, in southwest China's Yunnan province, Monday, March 22, 2010. (AP Photo) By Eric Leister, Meteorologist
Apr 6, 2012; 2:26 PM ET
Parts of China are entering the third year of an extreme drought that has affected more than 7.8 million people and 4.6 million livestock.Of the people being affected by this drought, more than 2 million are struggling for access to clean drinking water with many having to travel many miles each day just to fill jugs with water.
More than 4 million hectares of croplands have been hit by the drought leading to millions of dollars in losses for farmers.
Some of the hardest hit areas include the important crop producing province of Sichuan, where more than 10% of China's single season rice crop is produced.
Areas from Sichuan northeast to Shanxi have received less than 25% of normal precipitation over the past year, while areas farther south and east have fair better but still only 40-60% of normal.
Northeast China has also faced agricultural difficulties this year as a cold winter and early spring has led to frozen ground and spring plowing delays. Also, a shortage of snow throughout the winter has caused low soil moisture heading into the planting season.
China Daily reports that since December northeast China has seen its lowest amount of snow in the past 60 years. Also the Fengman Reservoir, the largest in the Jilin province, registered its lowest water level since 1995.
Some beneficial rainfall is possible in far southern China over the next week while largely dry weather will continue elsewhere in drought-stricken areas.
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