Drought could end 11 years of harvest growth

A severe drought in China's major crop-producing regions threatens to end 11 consecutive years of annual growth in the country's harvest.

The drought, affecting 4 million hectares of farmland, has cut the agricultural water supply in provinces including Henan, Hubei, Shandong and Liaoning, and shows no sign of abating.

It coincides with one of the most critical periods of cultivation, according to agricultural experts.