Nimroz farmers in despair as drought kills livestock

ZARANJ (Pajhwok): Farmers in southwestern Nimroz province have been in despair after losing around 500,000 livestock to the worst drought in living memory.

Mohammad Akbar Sharifi, agriculture, irrigation and livestock director for Nimroz, told Pajhwok Afghan News that around 500,000 livestock such as camels, sheep, goats, bulls and cows had perished this year due to drought and lack of water in the province, according to their survey.

“The loss of this huge number of domestic animals is a blow to the economy of livestock owners,” he said, adding livestock farmers in Zaranj city, the provincial capital, and Kang and Chakhansor districts suffered most of the losses.

Mohammad Nader, a livestock owner in Zaranj, said: “I had 300 cows and only 120 of them are alive but they too in bad condition, the rest died for lack of grass and water.”

Abdul Shakoor, a resident of Kang district, said his 20 sheep perished due to the drought and his farms produced nothing this year due to shortage of water.

The agriculture director Sharifi said 386 metric tons of animals feed provided by the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock had been distributed free of cost to livestock owners in Nimroz to prevent further cattle losses.

The animal feed was distributed to those people who owned more than 50 livestock, he said.

Khudaidad, a livestock owner in Chakhansor district, said the folder they received from the ministry was not enough for a week. He said the government should provide more assistance to them.

“Our main source of income is breeding animals, if we lose our livestock, we will lose our lives,” he said.

mds/ma