According to the Ministry of Water Resources, this situation affects Inner Mongolia (north), Gansu (west), Qinghai (west) and Ningxia (central), and further water shortages are expected in the coming months with the return of the El Niño phenomenon.

The agency urged local authorities to monitor the development of rainfall and drought, “scientifically divert water from water projects” and “take localized measures”.

According to an expert quoted by the Global Times, these regions have experience in managing droughts because they suffer from them on a frequent basis, although he predicted that livestock and farming would be affected.

In 2009, at the same time of the year, 17 Chinese provinces suffered a severe drought due to the effects of El Niño, according to a local newspaper.

China is still recovering from the heavy rains and floods that left more than 100 people dead and millions of dollars in losses, mainly in the northern part of the country.

Millions of hectares of crops were flooded or destroyed, which led several ministries of the country to offer recovery funds to minimize the impact on food production.

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