Drought in Sicily threatens grain fields, animal herds
The Peninsula
San Cataldo, Italy: Acrushing drought in Sicily has withered fields of grain, deprived livestock of pasture land and fanned a spate of wildfires, caus...
San Cataldo, Italy: A crushing drought in Sicily has withered fields of grain, deprived livestock of pasture land and fanned a spate of wildfires, causing damage already estimated at 2.7 billion euros this year.
In an attempt to mitigate the effects of the water crisis, the Italian government in early May declared a state of emergency for the southern island, unblocking funds to purchase water tanker trucks, drill wells and renovate pumping and desalination stations.
But ensuing months of continued high temperatures have done nothing to ameliorate the already dire conditions, with farmers giving up on their harvests and now wondering how they'll feed and water their animals.
"There's no hope, because it hasn't rained since May of last year," said Salvatore Michele Amico, a farmer near the town of San Cataldo in Sicily's dry interior.
"All the planted fields have been lost: there is no wheat, no barley, no oats," Amico told AFP.