KARACHI: The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is seeking urgent donor support to help farmers in Sindh hit by rain and floods that were worse than 2010’s devastating flooding.
Heavy monsoon rains that began in mid-August destroyed or damaged 73 percent of crops and 67 percent of food stocks in affected districts of Sindh province, and have killed nearly 78,000 head of livestock.
What made the flooding such a catastrophe was that it struck families affected by last year’s flooding before they were able to even start recovering – especially as Sindh did not receive as much assistance as other provinces in 2010.
The sum that the FAO hopes to raise – US$18.9 million – will be used to provide emergency livestock support and critical agriculture packages to over 300,000 needy families in the Sindh and Balochistan provinces, the Organization said.
One of the top priorities now is to prevent further livestock losses with emergency feed rations, vaccination, and procedures such as de-worming for at least 5 million surviving animals.
“Around 80 percent of people in the affected area depend on agriculture – including livestock – for a living,” said Luigi Damiani, FAO Senior Emergency and Rehabilitation Coordinator.
“These animals often represent a family’s entire life savings. It is vital to reach animals with emergency feed rations, fodder seed, vaccination and de-worming supplies.”
Restoring agricultural production will be another priority, by providing farmers with seeds and fertilizer in time for the upcoming Rabi winter planting season.
The money raised will also be used for rapid rehabilitation of damaged irrigation and drainage infrastructure, a vital task since around 80 percent of wheat planted in Sindh is irrigated. Some of these repairs are likely to be done through cash-for-work schemes, which will also create much-needed income opportunities in the affected communities.
“Delayed assistance will lead to heightened food insecurity, increased public health threats, loss of land tenure agreements due to farmers’ inability to pay their debts, population displacement and longer-term dependence on food aid,” Kevin Gallagher, FAO Representative in Pakistan said.
The FAO, together with the United Nations World Food Program, leads the Food Security Cluster in Pakistan in collaboration with the National Disaster Management Authority and line ministries. Total funding requirements of the Food Security Cluster amount to US$174 million.
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