French report: Southern Iraq has lost 30% of cattle

French report: Southern Iraq has lost 30% of cattle



30-07-2018 01:21 PM

The Euphrates -
 

About 30 percent of all livestock in southern Iraq have been lost as a result of the drought, while the rest of the farmers and livestock families are struggling to save the remaining herds, a report by the French Press Agency on Monday showed.

"While southern Iraq is suffering from severe drought, desperate livestock farmers are forced to sell their animals to keep the others alive," the report said.

"Local authorities have confirmed that 30 per cent of cattle throughout southern Iraq have been lost during the drought, either by dying from thirst or selling them for slaughter. This is a major blow to an estimated 475,000 families living in cattle in the south of the country, Conflict ".

"In order to preserve cattle grazing, trucks sell water, where plastic tanks filled with water were exposed for $ 20 per tank. With the cost of livestock also dropping, the buffalo animals, which cost $ 5,000 each, are now sold for only $ 1,500. An attempt to manage the needs of many farmers were forced to resort to getting loans in banks and drowned in debt.

The report pointed out that "it is painful to lack water in an area that was once part of the so-called Fertile Crescent has been called Iraq, the name of Mesopotamia because of the existence of the Tigris and Euphrates, but the supply of water shrinking for years."

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