TEHRAN – A total budget of 30 trillion rials (nearly $115.3 million) has been proposed to provide nomads with free insurance in the next year’s budget bill (March 2023-March 2024), Abbas Papizadeh, head of the Nomads Affairs Organization, has said.

Also, up to 150 billion rials (around $576,000) will be allocated to nomadic women to run small businesses and more solar panels will be distributed in nomadic areas than in previous years, he stated, IRIB reported on Sunday.

There are over 1.5 million nomads in Iran today. Nomads generally are on the move in search of pasture and water for cattle, set up tents, and nurture livestock. There are over 1.5 million nomads in Iran today. Nomads generally are on the move in search of pasture and water for cattle, set up tents, and nurture livestock. Solar panels generate enough power to help families meet their needs like charging emergency lights and cell phones and using the TV in the deserts and plains.

Iranian nomads live in Fars, Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari, Khuzestan, Isfahan, and some other provinces. They usually change between their winter quarters in steppes (Qishlaq or warmer areas) and summer quarters in green mountainous regions (Yeylaq or cooler countryside).

For instance, Qashqai tribe that is a combination of Turk, Kurd, Lori, and Arab ethnic groups mostly settle in Fars, Khuzestan, and Isfahan provinces and speak both Persian and Qashqai languages. They are famed for their attractive, colorful clothing, circular group dances, feasts, and celebrations. 

Each year, they make an epic journey of about 480km from the pastures in the north of Shiraz to the south of the country, near the Persian Gulf, where it is warmer for the winter.

Massive Bakhtiari tribes mostly live in Khuzestan, Lorestan, Isfahan, and Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari provinces. They have been migrating over the Zagros Mountain range for hundreds of years.

Shahsavans, Azari-Turkish pastoralists who are moving between the Mughan steppe of Azarbaijan and the Sabalan Mountains, are famed for their genuine lifestyle and ceremonies.

FB/MG