Pakistan is among the worst victims of climate change. This is amply highlighted by the unprecedented rains in the months of July and August and the resultant deluge that has inundated one-third of the country, taking the heaviest toll on the agriculture sector and destroying the major staples. “Keeping in view this phenomenon, the government needs to come up with a food security policy to turn around the battered agriculture sector,” said Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Adeel Siddiqui.

Talking to a delegation of importers and exporters, he pointed out that two staple crops – rice and cotton – had suffered worst losses due to the floods, which would dent Pakistan’s exports as these two items made the bulk of the country’s shipments abroad, according to WealthPK. Adeel Siddiqui said Pakistan ranked fourth among rice-exporting countries and fetched $2 billion in foreign exchange through its high-quality rice, but the climate change-induced weather patterns had caused massive losses.

Similarly, he said exports of textiles would also be affected as large swathes of cotton crop land had come under water. He said dwindling exports and rising imports would put more pressure on the rupee in the months to come, further squeezing the country’s foreign exchange reserves. He also highlighted the damage caused to tomato and onion crops, and said the country would have to increase imports of these two edibles to bridge the demand-supply gap. The HCCI president, however, stressed the need to maintain a balance between imports and exports, asking the government to make every effort possible to increase the exports with the assistance of the consulates in foreign countries.

He expressed concern over continuing deprecation of the home currency even after the International Monetary Fund had released a tranche of over $1 billion. Adeel Siddiqui urged the government to diligently meet the conditionalities of the World Bank and Asian Development Bank to get more loans for ensuring stability in exchange rate because increasing dollar rate had made doing business very difficult as opening the letters of credit was becoming all the more difficult for the companies.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk