Drought in Turkey ravages farms, threatens cities

In western Turkey, where the lakes are drying up and the blazing sun burns the crops,a 10-month-long drought has ravaged farming and is now threatening water supplies in the big cities.
Since October the north-west Marmara region, home to Turkey's largest city Istanbul,has received only 394 millimetres (15.5 inches) of rain per square metre,34% less than normal, while the Aegean coast has seen 355 millimetres,about 43% less than the usual level.
The situation is unprecedented for at least three decades,according to the weather service."I'm 62 years old and I haven't seen such a drought in my life,"said Abdulkerim Aksu in Yeniciftlik,a village of about 2,000 people to the west of Istanbul.Every morning over the past several months,the dimunitive man has filled up the cistern on his trailer truck at a dam some 10 kilometres (six miles) away to water his crops.He has managed to save his watermelons and peppers,but was unable to irrigate his larger fields of wheat and sunflowers."We had to harvest the wheat last month even though it was not yet time. It would have burnt otherwise,"he said."We ended up with 50 percent less crop.""And look at the sunflowers,"he added."They did not even grow leaves."In the nearby village of Turkmenli, similar concerns preoccupy farmers."I have no idea what we will do if it goes on like that,"
Osman Alkan,60,said.Pointing out that most villagers are elderly people,he added:"I guess we will have to survive on our pensions."The drought,blamed on global warming,has cost farmers five billion Turkish liras(3.9 billion dollars, 2.8 billion euros),according to an estimate from the Union of Turkish Chambers of Agriculture.The country's wheat crop has fallen as much as 15%,while in the Aegean alone the cotton,corn and tobacco harvest has shrunk by 30% and the fig crop by as much as 50%,the Union says.The water supply in big cities is under an equally serious threat.
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