Meanwhile, heavy rain and floods have hit Heilongjiang province in Northeast China.
In addition, a heat wave has scorched 13 provincial-level areas and left about 6 million people and 1.72 million head of livestock short of drinking water, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said.
According to the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, more than 1.87 million hectares of farmland have been affected by the drought in Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi provinces. About 70 percent of the land involved is planted with rice.
Rain of medium to heavy intensity has continued battering Heilongjiang province, where it has flooded 5,300 ha of rice farmland.
Ding Lixin, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing, said the central government had set a rice import quota of 5.32 million tons for 2013-14.
Ding said the rough weather may boost actual rice imports to between 2.8 and 3 million tons this year alone.
China imported 2.36 million tons of rice from international markets such as Thailand and Vietnam in 2012.
"August is an important month for paddy rice to develop, when it needs more water and nutrients to grow. The drought will certainly cut yields and disrupt plans for late planting in South China," Ding said.
Sun Hongrong, who operates a family farm in the suburban Shanghai district of Songjiang, said high temperatures have been a headache since July.
Although his rice-planting area doubled this year to about 13 ha, Sun estimated that output will shrink 15 to 20 percent this year. Harvesting is due to start in about 20 days.
"For good-quality rice, the best temperature for pollination is about 32 degrees Celsius. But the reality in Shanghai is a temperature above 38 degrees Celsius for more than a week," said Sun.
Source: China Daily
Time: 2013-08-14