A farmer carrying a plastic container walks on the cracking bottom of a pond at Zuishang Village of Tongjia Town in Yingtan, a city of southeast China's Jiangxi province, Nov. 3, 2009.[Xinhua]

China's drought relief office has called for immediate and intensified efforts to fight drought in provinces in south China, which caused water shortage to 2.47 million people.

As of Wednesday, the drought had affected 18.83 million mu (1.26 million hectares) of farmland in provinces of Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, Fujian, Hubei and Jiangsu and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, according to a statement on the web site of the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters on Wednesday.

About 3.37 million mu of farmland suffered grave drought and 610,000 head of livestock lacked adequate drinking water, said the statement.

The office urged local authorities to take measures to ensure water supply for drinking and irrigation in autumn and winter.

The central government would offer "a huge amount" of subsidies to help ease the drought, according to the statement, but no specific figures were available.