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SEDALIA (AP) -- Missouri has approved more than 4,900 requests from farmers for help in improving their water supplies amid Missouri's extreme drought.

The emergency program provides for the state to pay 90 percent, rather than the usual 75 percent, of the cost of drilling or deepening a well or expanding an irrigation system. The state's share is capped at $20,000 per project.

Gov. Jay Nixon announced the additional assistance in July and gave an update Thursday at the State Fair. The state has committed more than $24 million to the effort.

The deadline to apply was last week, and the governor's office estimates that about 1,500 applications are still being processed. Nixon says many of those already approved came from livestock producers.