Turkey’s earthquake-stricken Adana province is at risk of drought with low water levels in its dams, the Turkish media reported on Sunday.
The southern province, with its fertile Çukurova plain, is one of the main hubs of agricultural production in Turkey.
In the Kozan district of Adana, the water level in the dam has dropped to 28.1%, while the occupancy rate (the percentage of the total volume filled) in Istanbul’s dams has fallen to just over 35% due to lack of sufficient rainfall in the last three months.
A map prepared by the country’s General Directorate of Meteorology shows that, apart from the west of the country, nearly all parts of Turkey are facing an extreme risk of drought in the coming months, meaning that people living in earthquake-stricken provinces, who are mainly dependent on agriculture, may face a new catastrophe on top of the disaster of the seismic activity.
Fear of drought caused by low water levels in the dams is causing anxiety in farmers who are starting to sow corn in Turkey’s Adana province.
“We have sown, but if there’s no rain, we will have problems in production because there will be no dam irrigation,” said one of farmer to the Hürriyet daily, adding that there will also be a decrease in wheat yield.
