Over 200,000 livestock die due to cold weather in Afghanistan

Kabul [Afghanistan], January 28 (ANI): The deadly spell of cold wave continues in Afghanistan as over 200,000 livestock have died in the country apart from loss of human lives in the last two weeks, Afghan news agency TOLOnews reported.

Many of the animals that died were in the northern provinces of Balkh, Jawzjan, and Panjshir, according to the Taliban-led Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock. “260,000 livestock have been wasted in 20 provinces of Afghanistan. 129,000 livestock are goats and sheep,” TOLOnews quoted Mubahuddin Mustaeen, a spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock as saying.
This comes after some farmers claimed that the cold weather and lack of grass killed their livestock. They requested assistance from the Taliban in this regard.

“We had 60 sheep and we lost 30 of them due to cold and lack of grass,” said Mohammad Naeem, a farmer. “We lost 60 livestock due to cold weather in winter because we didn’t have food materials and proper conditions,” said Mohammad Sharif, another farmer. Amid poor living conditions, locals in Kabul have also expressed their frustration over prolonged power cuts amid the freezing cold.

The outages have resulted in leaving people with numerous challenges a result of which they urge the authorities to address the matter. According to the residents, electricity is supplied for four to five hours daily, which is not enough for them.
Numerous people have also lost their lives in Afghanistan in just over a week amid extreme cold conditions that have compounded the country’s humanitarian crisis.