More than 22,000 cattle may die due to drought

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock says the recent snowfall is not adequate to end the drought and Afghanistan may face drought next year.

Maulvi Mesbahuddin Mustaeen, spokesman for the MoAIL, told Pajhwok Afghan News in an exclusive interview: “Our forecast is that the current snowfalls and rainfalls would not be enough to eliminate the drought and there would be drought even next year.”

“Recent droughts have negatively affected our entire country, especially the livestock sector, and about of 22,000 cattle are at risk of death,” he said.

According to him, currently Herat, Nimroz, Farah, Faryab and Badghis province are facing the risk of drought.

He added institutions such as AIDS, the International Monetary Fund, the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank had previously worked with MoAIL on tackling the drought crisis.

But currently, he said, only one institution called APO funded by the United Nations Assistance Mission was working with the MoAIL.

He called on national and international organizations to work with the ministry to combat the drought.

Dr. Mohammad Zaman Amini, a professor in the department of agriculture at Kabul University, told Pajhwok: “Due to the drought in the country, the snowfall is not adequate to eliminate the drought.”

On the other hand, Hijratullah, a farmer in Dehsabz district of Kabul, told Pajhwok that drought had also affected them.

“We lost six to eight tonnes of grapes this year due to recent drought in the country and many other villages were also affected,” he added.

sa/ma

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