ULAN BATOR, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Extreme weather conditions killed a total of 1,048,000 heads of livestock across Mongolia in the first quarter of this year, the country's statistics office said Thursday.

Lack of grass for livestock due to a bad summer in 2020, extreme wintry weather known as dzud, and heavy snow and dust storms are the main causes of the animal deaths, said Nyamsuren Ulziikhand, a statistician at the National Statistics Office.

Almost half of the livestock deaths occurred in the southwestern Mongolian province of Bayankhongor, which is one of the provinces most affected by desertification, said Ulziikhand.

Over 88 percent of the dead animals were goats and sheep.

Animal husbandry is the backbone of the landlocked country's economy as nearly 40 percent of its nomads depend on animal husbandry for their livelihoods.

Mongolia had 67.1 million heads of livestock at the end of 2020, according to the statistical agency. Enditem

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