Severe drought badly affects forest trees in Daikundi

NEILI (Pajhwok): Farmers and officials of the Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock department in central Daikundi province say the severe drought has badly affected forest trees in the province.

Haji Hanif, one of “Sernili” village farmers in the center of Daikundi, said in the past years, their area was green and beautiful and all kinds of trees were sold from this area, but now the drought had affected these trees in two years.

He added now in their areas, the underground water has plummeted and surface water dried up and the forest trees were disappearing.

According to him, wheat fields have also been affected. A few farmers who planted wheat could not harvest as much as they had sown.

Six years ago, the center of Daikundi was green and most residents of Neili sold produce from their gardens, said Ali Rahimi, another farmer in the village of “Chardar” in Neili.

He added now farmers were forced to use the drip system to irrigate their fields.

Sher Ahmad Rafi, head of the Agriculture and Livestock Department, told Pajhwok: “Severe drought has forced many families to migrate to other areas.”

He said in order to control diseases and pests; they sprayed 22,410 apple trees and 22.5 acres of agricultural land in five districts of Daikundi and also provided the necessary training to 376 farmers.

hz/ma

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