Photos by Erfan Dadkhah, ISNA

The people of Qazvin gathered on May 9 to pray for rain. Iran is among the countries grappling with an unusually dry year.

Qazvin (also spelled as Ghazvin) is the largest city and capital of the Province of Qazvin in Iran with an estimated population of 331,409 in 2005.
 

13 provinces have been hit by drought resulting in a vast loss of agricultural products, National Agricultural Products Insurance Fund Management board member Ghorban-Ali Khamseh said in Tehran on April 30, 2008.
 

"Wheat farms, pomegranates, pistachios, cypress fruits, grapes, olives, and walnut orchards have gone through severe loss because of drought," he explained in an agricultural products insurance symposium held in Hamidan, Midwest Hamidan Province.\

The harsh winter cold also added to the problems farmers went through, he noted.
 

... Payvand News - 05/10/08 ... --