DIYARBAKIR - Livestock farmers in southeast Turkey are facing difficult times as a crippling drought left vast pastures without enough rain to grow hay and even forcing some breeders to sell their animals.
Over 130 thousand livestock were moved out of the southeastern province of Diyarbakir, more than twenty times higher than the figures of the previous year, a regional agricultural office said.
"Breeders are either selling their livestock or they are trying to herd them into more pasturable fields in eastern Turkey," head of a regional breeders` union said.
The drought had caused the amount of fodder to drop from 34 kg to 7 kg per livestock unit in the region as the dairy production also saw a sharp decrease.
(YMB-MS)