Drought effects on animal husbandry in Iran: Situations, problems, and approaches

Abstract

Decreasing amount of rainfall in the past autumn and winter caused deficiency in pastures and shortage and unavailability and very high prices of fodder and forage in most regions of Iran. This unfavorable phenomenon forced many nomadic and rural people that breeding livestock and especially goat and sheep herds to selling their animals even reproductive livestock under normal prices of them in market to middlemen and before maturing them completely and with low weights and killing them in livestock slaughterhouses in Iran. This imposed many economic damages to them. Slaughtering reproductive livestock will cause reducing in milk and dairy production and increasing their various products prices in future. Drought is a spreading phenomenon, and it has caused a lot of damages in different parts of the country in recent years. The driest conditions in 53 years have brought chronic mismanagement of water resources in Iran. According to Iran’s meteorological agency, the country’s average temperature has increased by 2C since the 1960s, rainfall has decreased 20% in the last 20 years and October 2020 to June 2021 was the driest period in 53 years. Environmental problems in general and water problems in Iran, in particular, are multi-faceted issues. Iran’s water resources have been depleted by a lack of rain, the building of hydro-electric dams, and farming of water-intensive products such as rice, wheat and sugar cane. Farmers hit by water shortages are fleeing their villages to live in precarious settlements on the outskirts of cities. Some villagers just do not have water to drink. They have to go and get water from small puddles on the ground. type of doing this research is mainly qualitative that observations, experiences, and field visits of author are main sources for gathering information. in these regards, author in article state various aspects of drought and its effects on nomadic and rural people that breeding livestock and especially goat and sheep herds in Iran. in the end of article present solutions and approaches for confronting to drought and its unfavorable effects on these nomadic and rural people in Iran.