»More than half of the crops are affected by the prolonged drought in China's southwest Guizhou Province, which started from autumn last year.

»According to local officials, the drought has affected 13.04 million mu (about 874 thousand hectares). About 6.35 million mu (about 425 thousand hectares) of that area was seriously damaged and 1.63 million mu (about 109 thousand hectares) destroyed.

»The dry weather conditions are likely to continue and weak rainfall was likely in the second half of this month.