Beijing  - The Chinese government on Sunday fired cloud-seeding shells to stimulate rain and announced plans to divert water from major rivers to ease an extreme drought in northern and central provinces.

Nearly 3,000 cloud-seeding shells and rockets were launched in seven provinces on Saturday, the state meteorological office said.

More water will be diverted from the Yellow and Yangtze rivers to badly affected farming areas, the government's Xinhua news agency quoted a water ministry official as saying.

The government has allocated 86.7 billion yuan (12.7 billion dollars) in relief funds to help drought-hit areas, earlier reports said.

On Friday, it raised the emergency status in drought-stricken regions to the highest level, as lack of rain threatens the harvests on more than 10 million hectares of farmland.

Fifteen provinces, including Anhui, Henan and the region along the Yellow River, are hit by the worst drought in half a century.

Areas surrounding the Chinese capital, Beijing, have recorded no precipitation for more than 100 days over the normally dry winter.

Average rainfall is down by 50 per cent to 80 per cent in most regions of northern and central China, the agency said.

About 4.29 million people and about 2 million head of livestock lack adequate drinking water, it said.

President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao ordered all-out efforts to combat the drought, which began in November.

State meteorologists have forecast some rain and snow in affected areas on Sunday and Monday.

But less than 10 millimetres of rain is expected, bringing only moderate relief from the drought, reports said.

In the major wheat-producing province of Henan, the weekend cloud-seeding caused about 0.5 millimetres of rain to fall on 17 counties and cities, the agency said.

The neighbouring province of Hebei fared slightly better, with between 1 millimetre and 5 millimetres of artificially induced rain from Saturday to Sunday morning.

The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post quoted Chinese experts as saying poor water usage and inefficiency in irrigation had also contributed to the extreme drought. dpa