Kurdistan Region sheep farmers call for government support

BARDASHAN, Kurdistan Region — Sheep farmers in the Kurdistan Region are calling on the government to reinstate support for their industry.

Since government subsidies for animal feed, medicine and vaccinations were cut off in 2003 and demand for wool has plummeted, less money has been made off raising the animal.

“It would be good if the government provides us with animal feed. If not, it’s a burden on us. We want them to provide us with barley,” said Hamza Ali, a livestock farmer, from the village of Bardashan in Sulaimani’s Dukan district.

Moreover, with no market for wool, the potential product, which is sheared this time of year to keep the animal cool for summer, is lost forever.

“The wool we’re burning is that of at least 400 sheep. It would be good income if we could sell it. We could pay our shepherds from it. We could buy feed,” Pshtiwan Hamadamin, another farmer, told Rudaw, noting that small business private sectors used to buy the wool.

According to the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) ministry of agriculture and water resources, there are more than three million sheep and 1.2 million goats in the Region.

Translation and video editing by Sarkawt Mohammed