Crops have withered in the country's west coastal areas and water level has lowered in rivers and reservoirs, causing electricity shortage.

Livestock are suffering from lack of water.

The drought has severely affected more than 10 000 hectares of farmland in South Phyongan Province alone, 26 percent of cultivated land in Hoechang County and 770 hectares in Sukchon County. The same holds true for Phyongwon, Mundok, Nyongwon and other counties.

Corn has to be sowed again on hundreds of hectares, which needs more manpower, seeds and fuel. It is hard to expect in not a few fields the harvest of wheat and barley sown as earlier crops.

Meanwhile, 120 hectares of rain-dependent paddy fields are left unsown in Mundok County and 60 hectares in Taehung County, affected by the drought.

South Hwanghae Province, too, is plagued with the devastating drought.

According to data available, nearly 10 300 hectares of crops throughout the province have been damaged by the dry spell. Hit hardest are Chongdan, Kangryong and Ongjin counties.

All local people have turned out in the campaign to minimize drought damage.

Some days ago, Premier Choe Yong Rim toured the Chilgol Vegetable Farm in Mangyongdae District, Pyongyang and the Ryongchon Co-op Farm in Hwangju County, North Hwanghae Province to acquaint himself with drought damage.