Due to a drought that has hit eastern Turkey this year, most crops, especially wheat and barley in the fields have dried up.
The small amount of harvested crops, caused by the drought, has led to an increase in the prices of hay. Kurdish farmers in Turkey’s eastern province of Şırnak (Şirnex) have had to sell some of their animals in order to be able to afford to buy hay.
Salih Gülçe is a farmer who has been breeding livestock for 30 years said he could only buy 40 bales of hay since the beginning of the year, but that this amount can only feed his animals for a couple of months.
Şirin Akın is another farmer, who says that, also the government bans, which have prohibited them from using the plateaus of the region for grazing, has also affected them negatively.
“We sell our animals in return for some hay. They have banned the majority of our pleateaus, in the city you cannot do livestock breeding as well,” Akın said.
Ramazan Doğru, a combine harvester machine driver, shared information that hay prices have doubled compared to last year.
“The people who survive on livestock breeding are in a worse situation than us. Every labourer has suffered a huge loss,” he said.
