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Reviving KP's agriculture
By Tahir Ali
 REHABILITATION
of farmers and revival of agriculture in the post-flood
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is likely to be handicapped for want of
enough funds. The cash-strapped provincial government has
neither received any support from the centre nor has
the international community provided the required fund for
the purpose. To cope with the devastation, the PK government
has asked the centre to provide an initial amount of Rs10
billion. The floods have inflicted enormous devastation.
Official estimates put the losses to crops, livestock and
irrigation system at Rs12 billion, Rs7 billion and Rs10.6
billion respectively. Some other sub-sectors of agriculture
have also suffered loss of a few billion rupees. Murad Ali
Khan, president
Kisan Board Pakistan, said the flash-floods have not only
destroyed standing crops and orchards in Charsadda, Nowshera,
Peshawar, Swat, Dir, Shangla, Dera Ismail Khan and other
districts, but also made lands uncultivable due to
accumulation of mud and water. In Lakpani area of Barawal in
upper Dir, hundreds of acres of agricultural land worth
billions of rupees have been washed away by the ravaging
floodwater.
This soil erosion is likely to lead to legal fights over
ownership of the farmland holding up cultivation till the
settlement of disputes. The destruction of irrigation
infrastructure, like the Munda Headwork that irrigated
around 0.3 million acres, is also
a serious blow. ?With the main irrigation infrastructure
destroyed and canals to remain closed for repair, there
would be water scarcity for the next crops.
This would mean little wheat crop,? added Ali Khan. Director
Irrigation Muhammad Naeem Khan said the losses to irrigation
infrastructure in all the ten major canal systems in KP
amounts to Rs10.6 billion. ?The department is trying its
best to
do the necessary repair and cleaning work to restore water
availability within a month,? added Naeem. Abdur Rahim Khan,
secretary general of the KP chamber of agriculture, said
farms will have to be cleaned from mud and leveled for
cultivation.
For the purpose, the government will have to provide
sufficient support. That would not be an easy task keeping
in view the fact that it would require sufficient funds,
machinery and personnel.
The floods have also damaged the livestock sector. An
official of the livestock and dairy development department
said the floods have killed 0.15 million heads of animals.
The farmers have been deprived of an important source of
income. It would
also lead to shortage and increase in prices of meat and
milk. ?The breaking down of the communication system
prevented farmers from transporting their farm produce to
markets and these decayed in trucks on way or in fields,?
Khan added.
The disruption in supply of vegetables and fruit to market
has also resulted in food inflation.
The prices of vegetables, meat, fruit, wheat-flour and other
food items have increased by about 30 to 100 per cent. An
official in the KP?s ministry of agriculture said that all
the affected districts are the main sources of wheat and
maize, fruits,
vegetables, sugarcane, rice, and livestock production. The
wheat subsidy is Rs14.08 billion for this year. But it may
need an increase due to a drop in local wheat production and
increase in the import bill.
Farmers have demand that the government should immediately
restore the communication system; address the critical
problem of demarcation and rehabilitation of fields and
irrigation network. For this purpose, the government must
arrange for
tractors and other field leveling machinery to the affected
farmers. The escalating debt burden of farmers also needs
immediate attention. Farmers need to be provided free or
subsidised agriculture inputs and fodder for their
livestock.
Agriculture loans of farmers should be written off or at
least interest thereon should be waived. Easy farm and
non-farm loans should be extended to small farmers to
restart their businesses. Farmers in the flood affected
areas also need
exemption from riverine and abiana for a couple of years.
Courtesy: The DAWN
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Pakissan.com;
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