PULI KHUMRI (Pajhwok): Farmers and livestock owners in northern Baghlan province say their crops have parched due to lack of timely rains and grass in pastures dried up.
These farmers and ranchers seek government’s assistance and ask for their problems to be solved.
Haji Mohammad Juma, a local farmer, told Pajhwok Afghan News rains did not fall when needed and drought hit their crops hard and there was nothing to eat for cattle.
rainfalls occurred untimed, the cultivate farms dried due to the drought and the herds of grazing animals have nothing to eat in the pastures.
Juma said: “Baghlam is a fertile province, but rain fed lands did not produce crops this year, some other lands could be irrigated if check dams were built.”
He urged the government to provide assistance to farmers whose farms did not yield crops, their own source of income.
Amir Hamza, a representative of the nomadic community, said: “About 150,000 nomadic families live in Baghlan, who like other people of this province, are badly affected in many aspects and do not have access to many facilities”.
He claimed so far no considerable assistance had been provided to the Kuchis in the province.
“About 8,000 animals died last winter due to lack of fodder. The Department of Agriculture and Livestock did not provide them with any assistance”, he claimed.
He said like the previous year, drought conditions were prevailing this year as well and local people might suffer financial losses once again if the government did not address their problems.
Baghlan agriculture and livestock director Maulavi Najibullah confirmed the problems of farmers, but said his department distributed some assistance to the farmers with the help of other humanitarian organizations.
He added: “About 85 percent of rains fed wheat did not grow and dried up and grass on pastures has also vanished and grazing animals have nothing to eat and ranchers can see more animals’ losses”.
Deputy Agriculture and Livestock Minister Maulavi Sader Azam recently visited Baghlan province to address problems being faced by ranchers and farmers.
Sader Azam told farmers and ranchers that his ministry distributed 25,000 metric tons of modified seeds to farmers nationwide and the process of giving nearly four million doses of different vaccines to animals was underway.
He said it was government’s policy to support private sector companies engaged in agriculture field for the development of the sector and to create an active agriculture system to gain self-sufficiency and shun reliance on foreign aid.
aw/ma
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