Despite the worst drought in decades, a remote county in southwest China, on the Myanmar border, looks poised to maintain crop output this autumn thanks to the widespread use of water-saving techniques and more productive farming methods.

The drought, which has lingered since last autumn, has left 98,600 people and 13,150 head of livestock with severe drinking water shortages in Tengchong County, Yunnan Province.

The hilly county, which houses 640,000 people in its 5,845 square kilometers, grows wheat, barley and rapeseed as major summer crops and rice for autumn harvest.

The county aimed to harvest 67,800 tons of summer grain this year, but output is expected to be down by 10,000 tons due to the drought, said Yang Yanchang, deputy director of Tengchong's agricultural bureau.

Despite the fall in rice yields, Tengchong aimed to raise annual production by adopting water-saving measures and growing less water-demanding crops, Yang said.

"We expect total grain output this year will reach 329,700 tons, 3.6 percent more than last year," Yang said, adding the monsoon season, which would start in May, would bring more rain to the county.

"The increase in output in autumn could recoup the summer losses," Yang said.

Rain from March 27 to April 3 had eased the situation in Tengchong, said Yang.

In Yong'an village of Jietou, the biggest agricultural township of Tengchong, Li Hongshun, 52, has sown rice seeds on a dry soil bed in preparation for transplanting them to new fields.

The so-called "dry soil bed breeding" required two-thirds less water than "wet soil bed breeding," where seedlings grow in water-soaked fields, Li Hongshun said.

Li said "dry breeding" had been practiced in the county for seven years and had resulted in stronger seedlings with higher yields.

Tengchong had a target of 40,000 mu (about 26.67 square kilometers) of dry-bred rice, an increase of 10,000 mu from last year, said Yang. The seedlings would supply 450,000 mu of rice growing area, 80 percent of the county's total, Yang said.

The county also planned to plant 90,000 mu of corn, instead of higher water-consuming rice, boosting grain output by 200 kilograms per mu on average, said Yang.

Interplanting corn with potatoes or soybeans was encouraged to raise yields. The county also aimed to raise tobacco production by 4,500 tons, giving locals an extra 80 million yuan (US$11.7 million) in income.