Al-Azim is on the verge of famine, 25 villages to be evacuated due to drought

Shafaq News/ The people of 25 villages in al-Azim district, north of Diyala, intend to leave their areas due to water scarcity and fears of drought and famine.

The former head of al-Azim Council, Muhammad Ibrahim al-Obaidi, told Shafaq News Agency, "the residents of 25 villages in al-Azim intend to move to the northern territories and safe agricultural areas in other governorates because of the low level of the al-Azim River and water depletion in the wells."

"Most of the villages in the district are at the risk of famine because of abolishing the winter agricultural plan and drought," he continued, "massive losses in livestock were also registered, which is an important source of livelihood for the people here."

Al-Obaidi urged the authorities to address the problem of drought and save dozens of villages from destruction and economic disasters, attributing the reason for the decrease in the levels of the al-Azim River to "the drop of the Great dam reservoir, which depends on rainwater coming from valleys in the northern regions of the country."

Al-Azim district, 60 km north of Baquba, is the food basket of Diyala and nearby governorates. It nestles hundreds of thousands of agricultural dunums that produce both summer and winter crops.