BEIJING - A lingering drought in southern China has left 13.45 million people and 6.39 million head of livestock short of drinking water, Liu Ning, deputy minister of water resources, said on Monday.

The drought has also affected more than 2.76 million hectares of farmland in Southwest China's Guizhou, Yunnan and Sichuan provinces, the Chongqing municipality and South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, according to the ministry's latest statistics.

The affected area in those five places comprises 56 percent of the country's farmland that has been hit by the drought, Liu said, citing official figures.