Cultivatable land underwater, agriculture sector reeling: Amid floods, now Pakistan faces food crisis

Already in dire straits with nearly 1,300 left dead due to unprecedented flooding, Pakistan is facing a new, perhaps even more dangerous threat as winter approaches – a food crisis.

The cataclysmic floods caused by record rains and melting glaciers have inundated a third of the country, displaced more than 33 million and has caused economic damages to the tune of $12.5 billion to Pakistan’s already teetering economy which is suffering from rampant inflation.

All this, in the backdrop of authorities struggling to contain the spread of water-borne diseases like diarrhoea and malaria in the affected areas.

Let’s take a look at Pakistan’s dangerous new threat that is likely to complicate relief work of authorities and make life even harder for ordinary citizens.

Cultivatable land underwater

A lot of cultivatable land has been submerged.

As per The Print,  around 170,000 square kilometres have been submerged of which 78,000 square kilometres of area across 57 districts which cultivate crops are flooded.

Sixty-five per cent of Pakistan’s food basket – rice, cotton, wheat and onion — has been washed away, as per the report.

The Print quoted foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari telling CGTN that “about 80 to 90 per cent” of the country’s crops have been damaged by the floods.

Chilli, sugarcane and date palms have been hint in parts of Sindh.

WFP country director for Pakistan, Chris Kaye told VOA 43 per cent of the population in Pakistan was critically short of food before the rains. He said he expects the number of acutely hungry people to increase because of the current crisis.

Agriculture sector in turmoil

The agricultural sector has been left reeling.

The damage to the country’s agricultural infrastructure is estimated to be around $20 billion, as per The Print.

Sindh CM Adviser on Agriculture Manzoor Wassan told Dawn agricultural loans provided to the growers during this year’s Kharif season in rain-affected areas may be rescheduled and the interest on the loans could be waived.

“The agricultural sector is in turmoil. The cotton crop and vegetables are completely wiped out in many key areas. Wild weather just can’t give us a break. First the heat wave, now the floods,” Pakistan Businesses Forum vice president Ahmad Jawad, who grows wheat, maize, citrus, and sugarcane, told Bloomberg.

Sindh CM Adviser on Agriculture Manzoor Wassan told Dawn agricultural loans provided to the growers during this year’s Kharif season in rain-affected areas may be rescheduled and the interest on the loans could be waived.

And it doesn’t end there – the Pakistan sowing season for wheat begins in October.

Pakistan is already in talks with Russia over importing wheat, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said last month in Parliament, as per Time.

Pakistan battles inflation

All this comes on the back of rampant inflation.

Pakistan has among the highest rate of inflation in the region with consumer price gains rising to a 14-year high of almost 25 per cent in July.

As per Time, the prices of tomatoes and onions have increased five times and three times respectively since just last month.

Pakistan is trying to import vegetables and other items from Iran and Afghanistan. So desperate is the situation that Pakistan is even considering allowing duty-free shipments from India, as per the report.

“The two neighbouring countries have issues but a humanitarian crisis comes first,” Jawad said. “India has a surplus of vegetables so it’s a win-win.”

Spill-over effect in Afghanistan

Unfortunately, Pakistan isn’t the only one affected.

As per VOA, the World Food Program is warning that that the floods in Pakistan are already exacerbating the food crisis in Afghanistan, where nearly half the population is facing acute hunger.

The agency says it has provided more than 16 million with emergency food assistance, much of that through Pakistan by road.

“The floods in Pakistan are going to put a huge dent in that capability and a great, greater reliance on imported food and commodities. So, we are becoming very, very concerned about the overall food security, not only in Pakistan in the immediate and medium term but also what it is going to imply for the operations in Afghanistan,” Kaye added, pinning the blame on climate change.

“With the challenges we have now with roads that have been washed away, that presents us with a major logistical challenge and problem. The second element on this one is the fact that the flooded area, of course is an area where the wheat harvest has been stored and a large proportion of that wheat has been washed away,” he said.

Death and destruction galore

At least 26 people were killed in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 1,290 as on Sunday, while another 12,588 were injured, according to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

The NDMA said that 492 people have died in Sindh, followed by 286 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, 259 in Balochistan, 188 in Punjab, 42 in Kashmir, 22 in Gilgit-Baltistan and one in Islamabad.

Floods have also destroyed about 5,563 kms of roads and 243 bridges, while 1,468,019 houses were partially or fully damaged and 736,459 livestock killed, it said.

Sindh province is still facing the brunt as officials made a cut in the embankment of swelled Manchar lake to save Sehwan and Bhan Saeedabad towns from getting inundated, according to Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon.

“It was a difficult decision [but> it had to be taken,” he said.

The minister said that approximately 125,000 people in five union councils would be affected by the water released through this cut.

Memon also said over 672,000 people were in the relief camps where the government was providing food and medicines to the affected.

Meanwhile, Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho told DawnNews TV that at least 47,000 pregnant women were in shelter camps in the province, adding that thousands have contracted various water-borne diseases due to the floods.

“More than 134,000 cases of diarrhoea and 44,000 cases of malaria have been reported in the province,” she added.

Dr Pechuho said over 100,000 skin-related, 101 snake bites and 500 dog bites have been reported so far among flood affected.

She said other cases, including respiratory diseases, were on the rise in Sindh province On August 30, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), a sexual and reproductive health agency, said that at least 650,000 pregnant women, of whom 73,000 were expected to deliver this month across the country, in the flood-affected areas were in dire need of maternal health service.

The government on 25 August had officially declared a “national emergency” in light of the rain-induced floods which have killed more than 1,200 people.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited Balochistan province’s Kacchi areas on a day-long trip, where he was briefed on the situation.

Sharif announced a PKRs 5 million relief grant for labourers who are helping in the evacuation process, and another grant of PKRs 1 million for the staff working for the restoration of gas pipelines.

The Prime Minister in a tweet on Sunday asked the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund and other global agencies to support Pakistan as climate-induced calamities had adversely affected the country’s children.

“As Pakistan battles one of the worst climate-induced calamities, among the most adversely affected are children. With over 400 dead, they make up one third of the overall death toll. Now they are at even greater risk of water-borne diseases. UNICEF & other global agencies should help,” Sharif tweeted.

International aid was trickling in, and the third flight from Qatar landed at the Karachi airport, carrying relief materials and medical items, while the United States Agency for International Development said it was deploying a disaster assistance response team to lead a humanitarian response.

“This elite team is assessing damage, identifying priority needs and coordinating with humanitarian partners in the country,” USAID tweeted.

Pakistan’s farmers are still counting their losses from the devastating floods that have put a third of the country under water, and wiped-out acres of fertile agricultural land.

Farmers rue that the natural calamity has put the country back by 50 years.

UN chief Antonio Guterres will arrive in Pakistan on September 9 for a solidarity visit and inspect flood-hit regions, after a $160 million emergency plan was launched by the UN and the Pakistan government to provide relief to millions of people living in flood relief camps.

As the country was trying to combat the calamity, the Pakistani Met Office has predicted more rains in the coming days.

With inputs from agencies

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