(MENAFN – Pajhwok Afghan News) MAZAR-I-SHARIF (Pajhwok): Farmers in northern Balkh province are concerned at inadequate snowfall this year, fearing that continued drought will damage their crops.
In most parts of northern Afghanistan, including Balkh, the time for crop cultivation on rain-fed land is over, they say.
Haji Abdul Qayyum, a farmer from the Chamtal district, told Pajhwok Afghan News Balkh always faced a shortage of water.
Both rain-fed and irrigated lands in the province need rains and snowfall.
€œNo, it was not enough this time around.
In the past, it would snow every winter four or five times.
Mohammad Anwar, hailing from Char-Bulak district, said the time for wheat cultivation on rain-fed land was over.
€œWheat on rain-fed farms should have been cultivated earlier.
When the weather gets hotter, plants should have grown up,€ he said, adding farmers were worried about a decline in yield.
More rains and snowfall would prepare the ground for spring crops, the official thought, saying Balkh needed 400 cubic metres of water per second.