Southwest China's Yunnan province intends to send more migrants to work outside the province as severe drought worsens.

Bai Enpei, chief of the Yunnan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, said the government will try to increase the number of migrant workers from Yunnan by 500,000 to 800,000 this year. Bai said the authorities will organize more migrants to work in other parts of the country rather than let them wait at home for water. This will help not only to tackle the drinking water shortages, but also to increase their income, he said.

The government will offer free skills training and organize job fairs, the official said.

The drought, the worst in 100 years in many parts of Yunnan, has affected 3.15 million hectares of crops.

The dry spell has ravaged southwest China for months, affecting 61.3 million residents and 5 million hectares of crops in Guizhou, Yunnan, Sichuan, Chongqing, and Guangxi, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said Wednesday.

The drought has left 18 million residents and 11.7 million heads of livestock in the region with drinking water shortages and caused direct economic losses of 23.7 billion yuan ($3.5 billion), the ministry said.

In Yunnan, direct agricultural economic losses are estimated at 17 billion yuan.

The provincial health authorities in Yunnan have sent out 16 medical teams to prevent outbreaks of infectious diseases.

In Guangxi, authorities are sending more fire fighters to guard against forest fires before the Qingming Festival when many people burn paper money to pay respect to their ancestors.