12 Trillion Toman in Damages to Khuzestan Agriculture Due to Drought

The head of Khuzestan’s Agricultural Jihad Organization says the total damages resulting from drought and water stress in Khuzestan have so far exceeded 12,600 billion tomans.

Khoda Rahm Amiri-Zadeh said on Sunday, the third of Mordad, that the damage caused by drought to the agricultural sector in Khuzestan province until July 22nd amounted to 320,000 hectares, and this figure resulted from autumn crops suffering damage and severe production losses, with a total loss of 300,000 tons.

He stated: “115 head of large livestock and 500 head of small livestock have also died. In total, the damages resulting from drought and water stress in Khuzestan have so far exceeded 12,600 billion tomans.”

Khalil Moni’at, director of Shadegan’s Agricultural Jihad Organization, also announced on Sunday that approximately 7,500 date palms have been lost in Shadegan due to the current water stress, and if water supply conditions do not improve, all of Shadegan’s date palm groves are at risk of destruction.

He said that currently there are over 2,500,000 date palms in Shadegan that are at risk of destruction given the drought and water stress conditions.

According to Moni’at, all date palms planted this year for the purpose of developing date palm cultivation in the city have dried up and been lost due to water stress. The area of these palms was approximately 150 hectares, which were destroyed due to lack of water access.

Khuzestan province has been the scene of widespread public protests against water shortages over the past 11 days, which have been met with extensive suppression by security forces and internet cutoffs in the region.

Source: Radio Farda