Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Huang Ping speaks during a ceremony to receive rice donated by China in Harare, capital of Zimbabwe, on Sept. 15, 2016. Zimbabwe on Thursday received rice from China to help alleviate hunger after a drought that has left up to 4 million Zimbabweans in need of food aid. (Xinhua/Zhang Yuliang)

MAPUTO, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government through its embassy in Maputo has donated 10,000 tons of rice worth 10 million U.S. dollars expected to help 700,000 people in the southern region of Mozambique.

The beneficiaries are from the provinces of Gaza and Inhambane who are among the most affected by the phenomenon El Nino that in the last two years reduced food production and led the government to declare a red alert in April this year.

"The Chinese government has been following closely the evolution of the droughts and floods including its impact in Mozambique and the support aims to help the country overcome these challenges," said Chinese Ambassador in Mozambique Su Jian on Wednesday.

"We would like to highlight this contribution in the efforts to mitigate droughts, a move that will increase resilience of the community in the most critical areas," said the director of the Disaster Institute of Mozambique, Joao Machatine.

China's support will go beyond provision of food products as it will include water, nutrition and agriculture and so far the Chinese government has committed to fund the drilling of 200 boreholes for water provision in areas affected by droughts.