About 70% of all nomads in the country are now literate. “The figure was only 27% in the year 1987,” said Karamali Qandali, head of the state-run Iran Nomad Affairs Organization (INAO), on the sidelines of a conference in Lorestan Province. “During the past three decades, nomadic tribes access to roads also increased from 25% to 95%,” IRNA quoted him as saying. Last year, the government allocated $47 million in loans to nomads for red meat production. Nomads in Iran produce 5.7 million tons of goods every year, mostly livestock products and handicrafts. Iran’s nomadic population is 1.2 million.
