State of emergency in several localities due to drought

Four Saskatchewanese rural municipalities are sounding the alarm by declaring the local state of emergency in the face of drought conditions and the lack of precipitation.

Rural municipalities of Big Stick, de Maple Creekbusiness and Fox Valleyall in the west of the province, said the state of emergency due to weather conditions.

The prefect of the rural municipality of Fox ValleyKelly Bakanec, also expressed his fears about the situation.

It is the ninth consecutive year of drought, but it is by far the worst that I knowhe says. And frankly, we do not know how we will manage the situation without government assistance.

It is a frightening situation.

Farmers in the region will be entitled to support from provincial and federal governments to deal with the situation. The two orders of government announced last Friday that they were going to double the thresholds which make it possible to determine a low performance.

This measure is aimed at Encourage the re -enhancement of eligible low -efficiency crops to increase the amount of fodder crops available for grazing, ballooning or silagethey said by press release.

However, part of the farmers considers that this additional measure is always insufficient to deal with the needs.

The association of agricultural producers of Saskatchewan (APAS) indicates however that the initiative is Welcome.

The Saskatchewan government, with the federal government, has revised the harvest insurance program to allow farmers to convert part of low -yielding crops for food for cattle. It is a welcome measure from the governmentsays the president of theAPASBill Prybylski.

The drought that strikes the province also worries cattle breeders like Corinne Gibson. She also fears that she does not have enough fodder, the plants used to feed the cattle this year.

As a breeders, our crops provide fodder for winter. Now, nothing pushed. So all the fodder we cultivate and usually produce must now be purchasedexplains Corinne Gibson.

The weather for the next few days could, however, offer respite to farmers in the region.

With the information of Julien Delfort and Kenza Zouham-Culcasi