Drought Ruins Nomadic Livelihood

Drought is estimated to have inflicted losses worth $258.33 million on 34 million hectares of Iran’s nomadic pastures in the fiscal 2021-22, according to the Nomads Affairs Organization of Iran.
“This year, due to low precipitation levels and drought in our pastures and meadows, we are facing a shortage of fodder to feed the livestock. We initially proposed the export of one million head of livestock so that the revenues could be used to import fodder and animal feed, but the Agriculture Ministry has only agreed with half this amount,” Fazl Khorram, the CEO of Nomadic Cooperative Association for Itinerant Livestock Farmers, was recently quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.
Noting that the Agriculture Ministry has permitted the export of 500,000 head of livestock owned by Iranian nomadic tribes, he said there are currently 246,000 nomadic households in Iran who own a total of 22.4 million head of livestock, supplying between 25% and 30% of domestic demand for red meat.