CM hopes to meet 75% wheat sowing target

KARACHI:

Sindh government is mobilising all of its resources to get at least 75 per cent of agricultural lands ready for the wheat crop.

Speaking to the media after a visit to the Mazar-e-Quaid on the country’s founder’s 74th death anniversary, Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said it will take at least three to six months to dewater the agricultural lands.

“We have lost our standing paddy and cotton crops in this Kharif and would not be able to afford to lose Rabi crops,” he added, referring to wheat which is sown from October to December and harvested in spring and early summer.

The food security of the province depends on this season’s wheat crop. CM Shah on Sunday expressed hope that the UN SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres after visiting the flood-affected areas will call upon the international community to lend a helping hand to Pakistan as it battles devastation after unprecedented floods.

Speaking to the media after a visit to Mazar-e-Quaid on the country’s founder’s 74th death anniversary, CM Shah said that the UN secretary-general (UNSG) personally witnessed the destruction caused by rain-induced floods in Pakistan, particularly in Sindh and Balochistan, and in the upcoming UN session the humanitarian crisis will be discussed. The chief minister said he had never seen such a catastrophe.

“More than 1.5 million people have been displaced, of them over 600,000 shifted to camps,” he said and added that he requested the UNSG for assistance with tents and medicines.

“I have discussed with the UN secretary-general that we would have to offer an agricultural package, otherwise the grower would not be able to sow Rabi crops,” he said and added he was trying to dewater agricultural lands so that Rabi crops could be planted by the first week of December.

Shah said his government is trying to prepare at least 75 per cent of agricultural lands for the wheat crop.

“We have lost our standing paddy and cotton crops in this Kharif and would not be able to afford to lose Rabi crops,” he added.

Living in free country thanks to Quaid

The CM paid tribute to Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Lauding the founding father’s leadership, the CM said that it was through his efforts that a separate homeland for Muslims of the subcontinent was carved out of India.

“It is our responsibility to make this country a cradle of peace and home of a strong nation.” CM Shah recorded his impressions in the visitors’ book opened to observe the 74th death anniversary of the father of the nation.