Read at : Google Alert – drought
http://africanpress.wordpress.com/2009/08/31/yemen-worsening-drought-threatens-herders/
YEMEN: Worsening drought threatens herders
SANAA, – Severe drought in Khawlan District, 70km east of the capital Sanaa, since mid-2007 has forced local herders to sell some of their sheep to buy fodder for the rest.
“Now we use grain as animal fodder to complement grazing but fodder prices have increased threefold over the past two years,” said Ali al-Qanis, aged 74, a local herder with 50 sheep. “These steep price hikes mean a sheep or goat is becoming a financial liability.”
To make matters worse, the selling price for a breeding ewe had dropped from around YR18,000 (US$89) in early 2008 to YR11,000 ($54) in 2009, he said.
While livestock farming constituted only 2.5 percent of Yemen’s GDP in 2008, according to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation Mohammed Al-Ghashm, it is an important source of revenue in several parts of southeastern Yemen, which has been hit by frequent droughts.
Livestock is the main income source for over three million people in the southeast, according to Mansoor al-Qadasi, director-general of animal health and veterinary quarantine, based in Sanaa.
Al-Qadasi said malnutrition was to blame for a drop in dairy production, high abortion rates and the spread of blood parasites and epidemics among ruminants. “Thousands of sheep and goats die of malnutrition… We have no accurate data on animal mortality as it is difficult to get from herders, most of whom are illiterate or lack awareness,” he told IRIN.
How donors can help
Al-Qadasi urged donor countries to help Yemen by providing capacity building training for herders, and training on how to cope with drought through pasture management and efficient fodder storage. “They can support epidemic surveillance programmes at the Agriculture Ministry to expand field activities,” he said.
