NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture has declared an agriculture disaster because of recent drought in 25 Louisiana parishes , three Mississippi counties , 61 counties in Arkansas and 60 in Texas .
Farmers and ranchers in adjacent counties in those and other states can qualify for low-interest loans if they can prove losses from the drought.
Louisiana parishes declared primary disaster areas are Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Catahoula, Claiborne, DeSoto, East Carroll, Franklin, Grant, Jackson, LaSalle, Lincoln, Madison, Morehouse, Natchitoches, Ouachita, Red River, Richland, Sabine, Tensas, Union, Webster, West Carroll and Winn.
In Mississippi, Issaquena, Sharkey and Warren counties are primary disaster areas.
As part of the Louisiana declaration, farmers and ranches in Avoyelles, Concordia, Rapides and Vernon parishes can qualify for disaster aid because those parishes are next to a primary disaster area. So can those in Adams, Claiborne, Issaquena, Jefferson and Warren counties in Mississippi; Ashley, Chicot, Columbia, Lafayette, Miller and Union counties in Arkansas; and Harrison, Marion, Newton, Panola, Sabine and Shelby counties in Texas.
The department declared several of those primary disaster areas in their own states.
As part of the Mississippi declaration, the department said East Carroll, Madison and Tensas parishes in Louisiana and Chicot County in Arkansas share county lines with primary disaster areas.
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