DUSHANBE, March 3, Asia-Plus  -- Animal husbandry, poultry farming, bee keeping and fish breeding have suffered an estimated totaling some 20 million somonis from this year’s extreme winter weather, Muzaffar Mirzoyev, an official with the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), said.  

            According to him, more than 2,5 million of 4.5 million tiny fishes intended for further development of fishing breeding in the country have perished this year from unusually cold weather.  He added that severe cold weather had inflicted particularly severe damage on the fish farms in Qairoqqum, Vahdat and Jomi.   

            “Some 3,000 head of cattle, some 30,000 head of sheep and goats, 400 horses, more than 35,000 head of poultry and some 1,000 bee-families have perished form extreme winter weather this year,” the MoA official said.  

            In the meantime, according to the MoA, a total damage caused to the country’s agrarian sector by this year’s cold weather has been estimated at some 700 million somonis.