Tribesmen want more govt support to make their lands fertile

Tribesmen accuse officials of providing seeds and plants to their favourites, ignoring the rest.


Ppi April 01, 2012

LANDI KOTAL:


Tribal elders have accused the forest and agriculture departments of not providing support to locals who want to cultivate their lands in Landi Kotal.


The tribesmen have accused officials of providing seeds and plants to their favourites, ignoring the rest. Officials of the forest and agriculture departments said the accusations were baseless.

Some tribal elders complained at the Landi Kotal Press Club that they have tired of trailing behind officials.  They said they wanted to cultivate crops and plant trees to protect the environment and to earn a living.

Our mountains are all barren and without trees; we need to plant trees on a large scale to make them green, which can also help fight environmental degradation, the tribesmen said.

They also demanded of the government to erect boundary walls around their fields to protect their crops against floods.

Hazrat Shah Shinwari said that he wanted to plant trees and grow crops on his vast holdings of barren land, but he said he was unable to get any support or guidance to realise his wish.

Sabir Afridi, an official of the agriculture department said they planned to provide seeds, fertilizers and plants as well as tractors at very cheap rates.

He said the department would also offer food packages to those who had already cultivated vegetables and crops.

The package is “food for work” which can be availed by people who have cultivatable lands.

The plants, seeds and food package are provided to farmers interested in cultivating crops and planting trees on their lands.

The initiative is aimed at increasing forest cover and providing sources of income for poor tribesmen, he maintained. Our filed workers are trying to create awareness to encourage people to plant trees.

Another official from the forest department, Falak Naz Khan said the forest department has cultivated plants on 350 acres in Bacha Mena and Dargai in Shelman. He said that it was the official policy to plant 350 trees per acre.

The local people are now taking interest in growing plants and are trying their best to cultivate their barren lands.

Locals are now more aware of environmental issues and their repercussions, Imran Shinwari observed.

“The government should offer tribal people more support and incentives to encourage plantation across the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata),” he added.

It is also a fact that every year the government pledges to provide plants to tribesmen to make their  barren lands fertile, but the initiatives are barely visible in Fata, said a tribesman, who wished not to be named.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1st, 2012.

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