WELLINGTON, Jan. 13 -- New Zealand had its third warmest year on record last year, the government's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) announced Monday.

The annual mean temperatures are above average or near average across the entire country, with the nationwide average temperature at 13.4 degrees centigrade, which was 0.8 degrees above the 1971 2000 annual average, and the third warmest since records began in 1909, said a statement from NIWA.

Much of the country was declared drought-stricken in the last southern summer, with the lowest rainfall in decades.

Last week, New Zealand's Federated Farmers called for greater action to build water storage projects to protect the pillar agriculture sector from the warming climate.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicted last year that New Zealand could face a future climate of heavier extreme rainfall, stronger and more extreme winter winds and longer periods of drought.