Threat of drought despite rainfall

SPORADIC heavy rainfall in some parts of the TRNC has done little to remove the threat of a drought over coming months, farmers leaders have warned.

“Recent wet weather has given us some hope but there has only been decent rainfall in the west and south,” said Cyprus Turkish Farmers’ Union chairman Hüseyin Çavuş Kelle, as reservoir levels remained low.

“In general, rainfall has been below expectations and we are heading for a drought with its associated impact on agriculture if there is none in March.”

The comments were echoed by chairman of the Animal Breeders’ Union Mustafa Naimoğulları, who said: “Everything depends on the weather next month. So far, Girne and the Mesaoria areas have had little rain and therefore the harvests there are not expected to be good.

“We have discussed the issue with Agriculture and Natural Resources Minister Erkut Şahalı and told him that a possible drought is just around the corner.”

Cyprus Today reported two weeks ago that reservoir levels were at an all-time low despite a wet January, with three of the country’s 17 water sources completely dry and two having water levels too low to measure.

However farmers’ leaders said then they were still hopeful of avoiding drought if January’s heavy rainfall was repeated over the following three months.