Drought Inflicts Losses Worth $8.7m on Qom Agriculture Sector

Drought and lower-than-average precipitation levels have inflicted losses amounting to 2.22 trillion rials ($8.7 million) on Qom Province’s agriculture sector so far this year (stared March 21), the head of the province’s Crisis Mitigation and Agricultural Disaster Reduction Bureau said.
“We had estimated more than 31,500 hectares of land to go under cultivation this crop year, but water shortage did not this to materialize,” Mostafa Tabatabaei was quoted as saying by IRNA.
The official added that average precipitation level during the current crop year has reached 106.6 millimeters while the figure stood at 240.8 millimeters over the corresponding period of last year.
Some 14,000 people earn their living via agricultural activities in Qom Province, which yields 805,000 tons of crops annually. 
Drought has inflicted 670 trillion rials ($2.6 billion) in losses on Iran’s agriculture sector since the beginning of the current crop year. 
According to Mohammad Mousavi, an official with Agriculture Ministry, assessments carried out over 11.2 million hectares of farming lands in 30 provinces show 43% of the total losses were due to the decline in agronomic production, as well as a decline of 26% in horticultural products, 13% in fisheries and livestock, and 11% in forage crops. 
“In addition, 4% of the total damage are to be blamed on challenges created in water transportation infrastructures, pools, pipes, aqueducts and springs, while 3% of losses can be attributed to water supply complications and the animal feed used by nomads,” Tabatabaei was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.