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Drought assessment mission delayed

    ISLAMABAD

    Drought continues to have a devastating impact on crops and livestock, and to cause a rapid deterioration in health and sanitary conditions, in Uzbekistan, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported on Tuesday. A joint FAO/WFP food and crop assessment, due to have started 10 September, has been delayed by the fact that Uzbekistan is not a member of the FAO but an alternative solution was actively being sought, OCHA stated in a drought situation report.

    Within Uzbekistan, the autonomous republic of Karakalpakstan was among the regions most affected, with crops having failed due to a shortage of irrigation water from the Amu Darya River - the main source of surface water in the affected areas, UNICEF stated in a drought update on 27 September. The reasons being given for this drought were low precipitation levels at the source of the Amu Darya in Tajikistan; inadequate water management at local and inter-state levels; and a reduction in water levels in shallow drinking wells throughout Karakalpakstan as a result of lower than average rainfall since the mid-1990s, it stated.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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