April precipitation rate down by 50 percent, officials warns for drought
ISTANBUL
Turkey is heading toward farming season under a severe threat of drought, a water report has revealed, noting a 50 percent decrease in the rate of precipitation across the country in April.
“There was 90 percent decline in rainfalls in the Southeastern Anatolia region and some 76 percent decline in Eastern Anatolia in April,” said a report published by Water Policy Association.
Highlighting that agricultural production will be seriously affected in some of the regions in Turkey, the report especially drew attention to the southeastern provinces.
“The production of cereals and pulses in Şanlıurfa will be affected badly,” the report underlined.
Another report by the Turkish State Meteorological Service also revealed the threat of drought in especially three regions.
“The precipitation in April fell, and the eastern, the southeastern, and the Aegean regions faced severe and extraordinary dryness,” the meteorology report said.
For years, the normal seasonal temperature for April across the country has stayed 12.1 degrees Celsius.
“However, this April, the temperature increased by 1.3 degrees Celsius jump and reached 13.4,” the report said.
The officials also published a Turkey map using colors to show the threat of drought in different regions. The color green indicated regions under no risk of drought, while yellow indicated a “watch out” warning for places likely to experience “mild dryness.” The color light brown indicated “warning for medium drought risk,” while dark brown stood for “emergency alert” for regions with severe risk of drought.
