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GARMIYAN, Kurdistan Region — A lack of rainfall has led to severe drought in the Kurdistan Region's Garmiyan administration this year. Villagers are being forced to abandon the area in search of greener pastures for their livestock.
There are 19 families in the village of Naziya, located in the Rizgari sub-district, who altogether have an estimated 5,000 sheep.
“My brother has already left for Sitak [near Sulaimani city]... The people who have not yet left have done so because they still have some fodder to feed their sheep,” Hussein Ahmed, a farmer, told Rudaw. “I too have prepared to leave. God willing, tomorrow or the day after, we will be setting off to Sharazur and Chwarta or the surrounding areas [near Sulaimani].”
The Garmiyan area was historically water-rich. The Sirwan River flows the length of the region, there was good groundwater, and regular precipitation meant the agriculture was rained, not irrigated. But all of those resources are failing. Iran has damned the Sirwan River, and the rains that feed the fields are less reliable. As those water sources dry up, people are drilling more wells and groundwater levels are dropping.
This year Kalar city, the capital of the Garmiyan administration, has seen 117mm of rainfall, down from 324mm in 2020, according to the head of the administration’s metrology department.
There are 1.1 million dunams of potential pastures in Garmiyan, according to the head of the administration’s agriculture department. However, this land is mostly unusable for livestock this year due to the drought.
“Everyone is desperate to book a truck. Our trucks are fully booked until Wednesday,” Hassan Mohammed, a truck driver, told Rudaw. “They go to wherever there are pastures.”
RELATED: Party to Paris accord, can Iraq stop climate change turning fields to deserts?
Farmers also say the price of barley, an alternative to pastures for feeding their livestock, has skyrocketed.
“A month or 20 days ago, one ton of barley was for 300,000 dinars. You could buy the best quality barley for 325,000 dinars. The price has now spiked to 450,000 dinars,” said farmer Ali Abdulkarim.
This year’s drought will lead to a 60 percent decline in agricultural products, the head of Garmiyan’s agriculture department told Rudaw.
Iraq is the world's fifth-most vulnerable nation to the effects of climate change, including water and food insecurity, according to the UN.
After years of conflict and mired in political and economic crises, it is also one of the least prepared to deal with the emergency.
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