It seems climate change has started to bite agriculture in Pakistan. In the coming harvesting season in Punjab, rice grain is feared to be shorter in size and their setting weak. So the yield is expected to be 20 to 35 per cent lower. The low yield of rice crop has been persisting for the past several years. This is an alarming situation considering the fact that rice exports earn $2 to 2.5 billion in foreign exchange for the country. Likewise, cotton and maize yield has also been showing a declining trend in the recent past.
Representatives of farmers from Punjab say that this year their rice, cotton and maize crops have failed because of the unusually high temperatures and have demanded of the government to announce an incentives package to enable them to sow the next crops. They want monetary aid, special subsidy on fertiliser and seed, abiyana (water rate) waiver and loans on soft terms for the next crop. Farmers of south Punjab, especially cotton growers, suffered more than those from the rest of the country because of the unusual high temperatures and also due to the whitefly attack. They say the falling cotton yield would affect the textile industry also and thus reduce export earnings. The maize crop suffered grain loss due to the high temperatures. Some farmers sold them as green fodder to recover their losses partially. The farmer representatives say the poor maize crop would affect the poultry industry, which used corn as a major ingredient in animal feed.
The farmer representatives have urged the government to get a proper analysis of the climate change impact and share the results with farmers. They have also demanded a task force to assess the causes leading to lower cotton yield while insisting that the issues affecting farmers are important for the entire nation. It is farmers who feed people three times a day.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 30th, 2019.
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