China's central government has allocated 28.6 billion yuan ($4.2 billion) to support farmers, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement Monday.

The bulk of the funding -- 18.6 billion yuan -- would be used to subsidize farmers in growing improved varieties of crops such as rice, corn, and cotton.

The other 10 billion yuan would subsidize purchases of farm machinery such as sowers and reapers, said the statement issued to Xinhua.

The funding aimed to improve motivation in agricultural production, and stabilize the country's grain production, according to the statement.

Farmers across the country would be eligible for the subsidies.

The funding was on top of 86.7 billion yuan of subsidy funding to grain-growing farmers nationwide in February.

The financial support for agriculture came as severe drought continued in the nation's west and south.

The National Meteorological Center (NMC) issued a drought alert on Sunday warning the severe drought would continue over the next three days.

The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said Saturday the drought, which started at the beginning of February, had affected 69.6 million mu (4.64 million hectares) of arable land and left 12.7 million people and 8.4 million heads of livestock short of drinking water.

(Xinhua News Agency March 1, 2010)