Shifting Sands Cause Misery for Rural Farmers

Heavy frost and sandstorms have caused significant damage to farmers’ crops in southern Sistan and Baluchestan province over the past two weeks. The same area also endured heavy flooding last year.

According to Mehr news agency, the sandstorms have temporarily buried a significant part of the agricultural land. One farmer from Delgan told the media that he had effectively lost a year’s income in a matter of days.

The only source of income for many people in Sistan and Baluchistan is agriculture and animal husbandry. In recent years, farming in the former wetlands of Hamoun to the north, and Jazmourian to the south, has also been beleaguered by drought.

Sistan and Baluchestan is known for its arid landscape and according to residents, the slightest wind can cause a dust storm.

Shahnaz Rafatpour, the head of Agricultural Jihad for Delgan, said that 3,150 hectares of land under watermelon, melon, tomato, potato, and rapeseed cultivation in the county had been buried under a pile of sand: amounting to more than 1,200 billion rials’ worth of damage.  "Farmers in these areas need government support to compensate," she added.