The estimated cost of destroyed crops, infrastructure, and livestock lost in the agriculture sector will exceed PKR 321 billion, a senior official from the Ministry of National Food Security and Research told media. According to the official, recent monsoon floods have destroyed standing crops on thousands of hectares of land. These crops include cotton, maize, oil-seeds, sugarcane, and seasonal pulses. Not only have the crops been destroyed but the livestock, which was a source of income for millions of rural families, was also lost.

He said that the initial estimates of the costs of destroyed crops and livestock lost, stands at PKR 321 billion.The number of animals, big and small, which have been lost in the floods stands at 800,000 across all four provinces of the country. He informed the media that, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa alone, the acres of standing crops lost to the flash floods are more than 14,400. They had different varieties of crops planted like cotton, rice, maize, sugarcane, and oil seeds. Floods have also destroyed fruit orchards, potato crop, and vegetable farms coming in their way.

In the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the official said, maize had been cultivated over 482,767 acres. Out of these 482,767 acres, about 4,794 acres have been damaged by rains and floods. This accounts for 1% of the total acres destroyed, and the monetary loss due to damage of the maize crop is estimated at about PKR 368.1 million. In the same vein, rice had been cultivated over 40,029 acres of land. Out of these 40,029 acres, a total of 3,482 acres have been destroyed by the floods. This represents a loss of 6% of the total cultivated crop, which in actual terms is a loss of 39 tons of rice. The cost of this amount of rice lost is estimated at PKR 11.81 million, he added.

Talking about vegetables, he said that vegetables had been cultivated over a total land area of 15,930 acres. Of these 15,930 acres, more than 938 acres have been inundated with water and mud. The monetary cost of this loss of vegetables has been estimated at PKR 145.28 million. Similarly, the total land under orchard cover destroyed by the floods stands at 2% of the total. The monetary cost of the loss of orchards is estimated at PKR 5.35 million. Speaking of Punjab, he said the total land cultivated with different crops stood at 3,670,000 acres. Out of these 3,670,000 acres, 30,340 acres have been destroyed amid the floods and rains. This represented a loss of 0.83% of the total cultivated land.

As for Balochistan, he said that it is also very badly affected by the floods of the late. In Balochistan, the total acres of cultivated land destroyed by the floods stood at 108,285 acres, while the number of animals which died stood at 107,377. The acres of orchards lost stand at 21,960, while 14,882 acres of various vegetables have also been destroyed. Highest losses of agriculture yield have been recorded in Sindh, he reported. The estimated loss of crops in Sindh stood at PKR 297.316 billion because of the loss of cotton crop, the largest crop of the province. Thousands of hectares of standing cotton crop have been lost to the flash floods of river Indus.He further said that crops including cotton, date palm, sugarcane, chillies, and onion standing over 2.8 million hectares have been damaged due to the recent calamity.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk