The ongoing monsoon rains have caused around Rs50 billion worth of losses to the agriculture sector in Sindh, a representative body of growers said on Sunday.
The heavy rainfall destroyed crops like dates, cotton, onion, chilies, cauliflower and other vegetables, Sindh Abadgar Board said suggesting measures like interest free loans and tax relief to the rain-hit farmers.
The board held a meeting in Hyderabad on Sunday, chaired by its vice president Mahmood Nawaz Shah, calling for implementing some short and medium term measures to help in rehabilitation of the affected farmers and agricultural economy.
According to the board, almost 70% of the date crop has been destroyed. The farmers expected a harvest of about 220,000 tons this year but the rains have ravaged 150,000 tons so far. The farmers said dates were either ripe for harvest or were being dried up when rains began to lash the province.
The growers said their cotton fields were already suffering due to water scarcity from the months of March to June and the heavy rains, which started from early July, later destroyed their crops in the cotton belts in Sanghar, Mirpurkhas and other districts.
More than 70% of onion crop has also been affected in the areas of Tando Allahyar, Matiari, Mirpurkhas and other districts. “The losses are likely to increase if the incessant rains continue,” warned Shah.
He lamented that the devastation of the crops occurred at a time when the prevailing high inflation in the country had doubled the cost of cultivation. He pointed out that urea being the highest consumed fertilizer is still not available at the company declared rates.
Recommendations
The board proposed a set of measures needed on a short and medium term basis if the government wants to rehabilitate the badly ailing agricultural economy and the rain hit farmers. The SAB called for providing interest free loans to the rain-hit farmers, waiving their taxes and agricultural loans, distributing the Kissan cards which are pending for over two years and activating disaster management bodies at the earliest possible.
Meanwhile, the medium range steps the SAB wants from the government include restoration of the old natural drains like Dhoro Puran, Dhoro Naro and others and making Left Bank Outfall Drain (LBOD) and Right Bank Outfall Drain (RBOD) functional drains. The board suggested launching a crop insurance scheme to facilitate small and medium sized growers. It also demanded the establishment of a climate emergency fund in view of the recurrence of calamitous events.
Syed Nadeem Shah, Aslam Mari, Imran Bozdar, Arbab Ahsan, Mustafa Nawaz Shah, Taha Abbassi, Mehtab Lund and other office bearers and members of the SAB attended the meeting.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 8th, 2022.
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