In the wake of recent devastating floods, the Balochistan government has approved an amount of Rs 15 billion to provide fertilizers, seeds and agriculture equipment to farmers.“The flash floods have washed away embankments on 5,000,000 acres of land which would require 1,000,000 bulldozer’s hours and 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 hours of trackers to rebuild the mound and flat the land,” Balochistan Minister for Agriculture and Cooperative Mir Asadullah Baloch said in a statement received by WealthPK.

“The provincial government has approved a summary to provide 400,000 bulldozer’s hours to farmers and has already delivered 100,000 bulldozer’s hours,” he added.Giving details about the agricultural losses, the minister said that almost all the seasonal crops including tomato, chilli, onion, rice, cotton, apple and dates standing on over 200,000 acres of land had been destroyed completely. He said the flood had badly affected the farmers, caused the loss of over 500,000 livestock and destroyed their tube wells and solar panels.

“The volume of calamity is colossal and we do not have enough resources to fight it, compensate the affected population, rehabilitate and restore the damaged infrastructure,” he added. Asadullah Baloch demanded the federal government and donor agencies come forward and help the provincial government in the rehabilitation of flood-affected people. He urged the federal government to raise funds for the flood-hit people in Balochistan as the estimated overall loss faced by the province stood around Rs. 300 billion. He demanded the federal government announce subsidy on electricity and gas bills, provision of free yields, the removal of agricultural loans, provision of tractors at subsidised rates and providing bulldozer’s hours to the farmers to bear the losses.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk