The prolonged and crippling drought in southwest China is spreading northward to Hunan Province where about 380,000 people are now hit by a shortage of drinking water.

Hunan received 74 percent less rain than normal in the first two months of this year, local flood and drought headquarters said.

An official with the headquarters said the agricultural sector suffered the harshest blow as about 200,000 hectares of farmland could be affected if rain did not fall.

More than 18.05 million people in southwest China and 10.17 million head of livestock are now suffering from a drinking-water shortage, according to the State Office of Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

About 39.1 million hectares of farmland is barren as there is no irrigation water.

Droughts in the north were common during spring and China faced the prospect of a big dry enveloping vast tracts of land at both ends if no rain fell in the south, Zhang Zhitong, an official with the state headquarters, said.

Although light rain has been forecast for the southwest in the next week, it would do little to alleviate the parched countryside, Zhang said.

About 12 million people could have trouble finding drinking water in Yunnan Province by May if the drought persisted, Zhang said.

Water storage facilities are scarce in southern areas, exacerbating the problem.

The drought has also forced up the prices of produce and put a strain on the shipping businesses that ply the Yangtze River.

The fallout is widespread.

For example, the price of rice is rising in Shanghai and Chongqing because a lot of grain was being transported to stricken areas, China News Service reported yesterday.

Yunnan, a leading tea producer, has seen the price of the commodity rise by up to 100 percent.

The water level in Chongqing, in the upper Yangtze River, is 2 meters lower than at the same time last year.

Dredging boats are working around clock to ensure no ships become stranded.

China has allocated more than 155 million yuan (US$22.7 million) in aid to the stricken areas.