"No Dry Land Left" - At Least 4 Million Acres Of Crops Lost In Pakistan, New Planting Impossible
Muhammad Naeem Khoso lost thousands acres of crops when the torrential downpours that devastated Pakistan in July and August turned his land in Jaffarabad into a lake. “I had invested 40 million rupees (£163,042) into different crops, mostly rice,” he said. “I lost almost everything. The floods have ruined and washed away everything.” Khoso said he had never seen so much rain in his life, and that water was coming from everywhere. Now, he added, “I fear for a food crisis in Balochistan and beyond.”
Across the province crops, homes and livelihoods were washed away by flood waters. Agriculture is the primary source of income for many in the districts of Jaffarabad, Sohbatpur, Nasirabad and Jhal Magsi yet 70% of crops have been destroyed in the floods. Nationwide, at least 4m acres of crops have been destroyed, part of the economic devastation estimated by the Pakistani prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, at $30bn-$35bn (£27bn-£31.6bn), and while the heavy rainfall which began in July has stopped, many areas in Balochistan and Sindh provinces remain flooded. Children play and swim in fields where green crops of rice should have been swaying in the air, ready for harvest.
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In the Larkana district of neighbouring Sindh province, Sajid Ali, said more than 70% of his crops were ruined. “People have lost their crops and some have also lost their seeds of wheat, which they had kept for new seasons in their storerooms and factories,” he said. “The land is still under water and we can’t grow anything here for a long while.”
Sherry Rehman, Pakistan’s climate change minister, said half of the country’s breadbasket had been wiped out in the floods. “Clearly, there will be shocks to the food security of the country. We are not sure how the sowing season will really take place with this much water or damp soil,” she told the Guardian.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/12/pakistan-floods-impact-years-crops-farms