Drought assessment mission delayed

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.