China's central and local governments have helped bring water to more than 16 million mu (1.06 million hectares) of farmland in winter wheat regions as part of the battle against prolonged drought since last October, the country's drought relief authorities said.

By Wednesday, the government had dispatched some 77,000 people for drought-fighting in China's eight major winter wheat regions, said the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters in a statement on its website.

In these regions, the teams had helped 980,000 people and 310,000 livestock get relief from drinking water shortage by digging some 11,000 wells, carrying 360,000 cubic meters of water and repairing 59,000 pieces of drought-relief equipment, it said.

As of Monday, lingering drought had affected 101.18 million mu of winter wheat in the provinces of Hebei, Shanxi, Jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong, Henan, Shaanxi and Gansu, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

(Xinhua News Agency February 17, 2011)