Dear friends,
We wish to share with you the following article from Mr. Shoaib Habib Memon.
Asian Human Rights Commission
Hong Kong
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An article from Mr. Shoaib Habib Memon forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission
PAKISTAN: Flood Disaster-Rupees 249 billion losses to agriculture sector
The losses to agriculture sector of the country from deluge have increased to Rs 249 billion against the initial estimates of Rs 244 billion,
According to an initial estimate prepared by the Ministry of Food And Agriculture in coordination with the provincial governments, Azad Jammu and Kashmir government, and Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), the rapid flood damages assessment indicates that 2 million hectares of the cultivated area of field crops is reported to have been destroyed throughout the assessed affected areas. Sources said that there would be an extensive loss in productivity of all kinds of Kharif crops, including rice, sugarcane, cotton, maize and pulses. The sources claimed that the cotton was the most affected crop, as it had to bear a loss of Rs 73 billion. About 0.5 million hectors cotton sowing areas were affected by the flood across the country.
Cotton crop had been sown on 3.2 million hectares, out of which 0.51 million hectares had been completely destroyed, which would lead to decline in production by almost 15 percent (about 2.5 million bales) to 11.5 million bales against the target production of 14 million bales in 2010. The report warned that the country would face serious shortage of cotton as lower production was expected in coming days. Bakkhar, Layyah and Mianwali districts have witnessed the worst damage. In Sindh, cotton crop was destroyed in Sukkur, Khairpur, Ghotki, Naushero Feroze and Benazirabad(Nawabshah) districts.
After cotton crop, the next most affected agriculture crop was the rice production, which is also main source of foreign exchange earning of the country. An amount of Rs 56.3 billion had been lost in damage to rice crop. Countrywide rice production was expected to decline by around 29 percent to 4.35 million tonnes against the original production target of 6.176 million tonnes. Sources claimed that the floodwaters would affect unfavorably Irri-6 paddy growing areas, whereas Basmati rice growing areas would not be affected by the same extent. Sugarcane production will remain about 47 million tonnes against the forecast target of 53.7 million tonnes.
Floods also damaged sugarcane crop areas spread over 0.6 million hectors against the total 1.069 million targeted areas of the commodity. Such damages to areas would equal to a loss of Rs 22 billion to the government in the filed of sugarcane production. This is the initial loss to the government and decrease in white sugar would aggravate the situation and the government would have to spend the precious foreign exchange over the import of while sugar.
Floods also destroyed other crops including maize; mung, mash, chillies and vegetable etc have cost the government more than Rs 100 billion.
Overall, total loss to agriculture sector is around Rs 249 billion at present, which might increase with the passage of time if the floodwater does not recede completely from the affected areas of the country. Sources claimed that the assessment teams made every effort to gather accurate data, the prevailing emergency situation did not always allow for completeness of information. The situation is still evolving and the data are preliminary – representing only a snapshot for a particular period. Also, access to some areas is still not possible, thus a more detailed assessment will be required when access is restored. According to the World Bank initial estimates crops worth $1 billion have been destroyed. This figure will increase in the near future, as local experts believe that the losses to essential cash crops such as rice, cotton, tobacco and sugarcane could exceed $3 billion.
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About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984. The above statement has only been forwarded by the AHRC.
