TEHRAN – Deputy head of Nomads Affairs Organization of Iran (NAOI) says 420 projects for supplying drinkable water to nomadic households which were started last year are going to be completed by the Iranian calendar month of Tir (starts on June 21).

“With the implementation of these projects, sustainable, high-quality drinking water will be provided to about 17,000 nomadic households,” Shahpour Alaei-Moqadam told IRNA.

According to the official, the government has defined 300 projects to resolve water-related problems for the nomads in the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 19).

He stated that Iran’s nomadic population currently stands at 1.2 million people who live in 230,000 households.

“Based on the plans for the current year, we are trying to increase the red meat production of the nomadic community,” Alaei-Moqadam said.

He further expressed hope that the government would provide the nomadic households with supportive facilities to help them increase their production.

Currently, 34 million hectares of the country's pastures with a capacity of providing 4.5 million tons of fodder are available to the country’s nomadic community, the official said.

EF/MA