The government must provide interest-free loans to flood affected farmers so that they can cultivate next crops timely, Shahzad Ali Malik, Chairman of Pakistan Hi-Tech Hybrid Rice Association (PHHSA), said in a statement received by WealthPK.

Chairing a meeting of PHHSA executive committee, Malik urged the government to ensure the availability of fertilizers, certified seeds and electricity to farmers at subsidized rates to ensure food safety and security in the country.

He called upon the provincial governments of Sindh and Punjab to ensure the availability of water to save the existing standing crops of paddy as devastating floods have put huge dent on crops over thousands of hectares of land.

“The recent flash floods damaged about 80% of rice crops in Sindh and 60% of crops in South Punjab besides playing havoc with infrastructure,” he said, adding that due to floods, road network and bridges were also destroyed, almost completely wiping out the economic activities in the affected areas.

Malik said the highest inundation was recorded in rice crop zone of Sindh, which caused loss of 1.8 million tons of rice.

The PHHSA chairman said the cotton and sugarcane zones of Sindh received lesser inundation during the flooding. However, both zones received several unexpectedly high daily rainfalls which almost completely destroyed cotton crops at maturity. He said the deadly flash floods will lead to a higher food import in the country, where 43% of the population is already facing food insecurity. He said the repercussion of flood may include higher imports, compromise on exports, and rising inflation, which will dent efforts to tackle the macro headwinds.

He proposed the government ban the use of all kinds of non-certified seeds throughout the country, and only hybrid seeds or certified seeds be used for bumper production and higher profitability.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk