Floods in Pakistan cause damage of $10b

Web Desk (LTN NEWS): The federal government says that weeks of heavy rain and flooding have cost at least $10 billion. Sindh, in particular, has lost over $1.6 billion (Rs355 billion) because all of its major crops have been destroyed.

Finance Minister Miftah Ismail talked to the media about the damage estimate. He said that the floods would cost at least $10 billion, which is about 3% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Meanwhile, Sindh CM Adviser on Agriculture Manzoor Wassan told Dawn that the heavy rains had destroyed cotton, rice, and date crops, costing Rs109.347bn. “Besides, the rain has also killed chili and other crops,” he said.

Mr. Wasan said that almost all of the crops on more than 1.4 million acres of cotton, 602,120 acres of rice, and 101,379 acres of dates had been ruined. “Nearly half of the sugarcane crop on 729,582 acres has also been damaged,” he said.

Read More: Rains cut the agricultural output by 30%

Sindh’s standing cotton and rice crops were destroyed, and Ariana was not charged.

He said that almost half of the crops of sesame, tomato, chili, Kharif vegetables, and onion had also been destroyed by the heavy rains in the province.

In response to a question, he said that it would be very hard to plant wheat in the next two months. “The flood water won’t be gone from the farmers’ fields completely in two months,” he said.

He said that Sindh had never seen rain like this before, but that the provincial government was doing its best to help the people who had been hurt by the rain and flash floods.

The agriculture adviser said he had given the affected people more than 4,000 tents, tarps, ration bags, and cash.

He said that the farmers had lost a lot of money and that they would get help to deal with this. The revenue department would not collect Abiana fees for the Kharif season in 2022, he said.

Mr. Wassan said that growers of date palms had lost all of their crops. “It has been suggested that they could get 50 percent of the value of their crops as compensation.

He said that a compensation plan for the rest of the crops that were damaged by the heavy rains might be announced based on 50 percent of the cost of the seeds, fertilizer, and pesticides used.

Read More: https://ltnnews.tv/total-937-deaths-due-to-floods-thousands-of-houses-destroyed-pakistan/

In response to a question, he said that growers in areas that got a lot of rain during Kharif 2022 might have their loans rescheduled and the interest on the loans might be waived.

“Easy-to-get new loans without interest could be given to areas hit by rain,” he said.

Mr. Wassan said that water was being taken out of the fields to help protect the crops.

He promised, “We are with the people, and we can’t leave them alone in these hard times.”