Water Paucity Brings Farm Crisis to Sistan-Baluchestan

Low precipitation in Sistan-Baluchestan Province in the last eight months is posing new challenges to agribusiness in the dry region, a lawmaker from Zabol said.
“Rain fed agriculture is out of question as average rainfall in the region since the beginning of the current water year (Sept 23, 2019) until May 4 was barely 60 millimeters.
Moreover, irrigated farming is impossible because Afghanistan has blocked the flow of water from Hirmand (Helmand) River,” ILNA quoted Habibollah Dahmardeh as saying.
The river can hold a maximum of 10 billion cubic meters of water, but it now has only 1 bcm, depriving farmers from cultivating barley and wheat, two major crops in the region, he said.