Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu Thursday urged authorities to make provision of drinking water for people in drought-hit southwest China a top priority.

Hui's call followed arrangements for combating the expanding drought laid out at a State Council, or Cabinet, meeting in Beijing.

"As the drought in southwest China continues, our fight against the disaster and the relief work remain onerous," he said.

"We must do everything we can to get water by taking measures such as artificial precipitation, digging wells and finding new water sources," he said.

He also asked officials to invest more in building water conservancy facilities to solve the "bottleneck problems" of agricultural production.

As of Tuesday, the expanding severe drought had left 24.25 million people and 15.84 million farm animals short of water, Vice Minister of Water Resources Liu Ning said Wednesday.

The drought started in September last year in southwest China, with Yunnan Province being the worst affected region. Ocassional rainfall in these areas has done little to alleviate it.