Farmer and his daughter fill buckets with water to carry to their fields to water their crops near village...
A farmer and his daughter fill buckets with water from a communal pipe to carry to their fields to water their crops near the village of Zhudong, located 120 kilometres (75 miles) south of Zhengzhou in Henan province February 15, 2009. Severe drought in China has spread, cutting off drinking water for nearly 4 million people and 1.85 million head of livestock, the government announced last week. An area across China totalling 9.67 million hectares has been affected, with estimated precipitation levels 70 to 90 percent lower than in normal years. The government of one of China's big farming provinces, Henan, announced however that wheat production will probably not fall despite the drought, but farmers are not yet in the clear as damage could worsen if crops are starved of water during their critical growing phase in March and April. REUTERS/David Gray (CHINA)