US contribution of $62 million: FAO to distribute wheat seeds to flood-hit areas

The timely US contribution of $62 million - more than two thirds of the $92 million available, allowed the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to distribute wheat seeds to flood-stricken areas of the country for 2011. The FAO expects that Pakistan will enjoy a good wheat harvest this year, estimating it will produce $190 million of wheat flour.
"US assistance to these projects was not just helpful, it was essential and critical to our ability to act quickly enough with seed distribution to ensure a viable harvest," FAO representative for Pakistan Kevin Gallagher said. "It would have been very difficult to mobilise the surge of staff necessary to distribute the seed in time without the American support, he added."
Through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the American people provided FAO with $21 million for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, $25 million in Punjab, and $16 million in Balochistan. The assistance also included fertiliser, and cash-for-work programs to clear irrigation canals blocked by silt from the floods. "The United States was the first donor to provide us with seeds for our traditional wheat crop so we were able to plant it in time to get the maximum yields, so we can feed our families for the next year," a religious leader from Nowshera said shortly after the seed arrived.
Gallagher also said that US donations are saving the lives of almost a million livestock by supplying temporary shelter, dry animal feed and de-worming tablets to 290,000 farm families. The cost of keeping the animals alive is just one tenth of replacing them, which can equal a family's lifetime savings. Through a separate project, USAID provided $15 million to support the distribution of sunflower seeds as an alternative cash crop in Sindh. Sunflowers have a shorter growing season than wheat, can be planted later, and can be easily sold for processing into cooking oil.-PR