A drought is plaguing parts of central and southern China, impacting grain production and disrupting drinking water supply.

Drinking water supply to more than 20,000 people and thousands of livestock animals have been disrupted in Jingzhou City of central China's Hubei Province, also a major grain production base, according statistics from the Jingzhou municipal authorities.

The city, which is usually humid in spring, had barely any rainfall since mid-April.

Paddy fields in several counties of Jingzhou have turned dry. "It's time for irrigation. Without water, the plants will die soon," said Yang Qing, a farmer in Futian Village of Jinali County in the worst hit area.

The municipal authorities have been discharging water from the reservoirs to help with irrigation. Water volume in the city's reservoir has dropped to 336 million cubic meters, down 67 percent year on year.

More than 3.3 million hectares of farmland in the province have been impacted by the drought, according to statistics from Hubei's Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

Drought has also disrupted supply of drinking water to more than 300,000 people in south China's Fujian Province, according to a statement from the provincial Flood Control and Draught Relief Headquarters.

The province's rainfall is down 66 percent year on year and the water volume in its rivers has dropped by 43 percent comparing to the same period last year, the statement said.

The drought has also affected 55,300 hectares of farmland in Fujian, it added.

Other provinces affected by drought are Guangdong, Jiangxi and Anhui.

The amount of rainfall in tropical Guangdong Province reached a record low in the past 60 years. Drought has impacted the production of more than 1 million hectares of wheat field in Anhui.

Parts of Jiangxi, Fujian and Guangdong started raining Saturday. The rains may continue for a few days and relieve the drought, according a bulletin on the www.weather.com.cn affiliated to China Meteorological Administration.

However, reports from meteorological stations in Hubei and Anhui showed little signs of improvement in the near future.

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