Torrential Rains Affect Wheat Crop, Fruits Orchards In KP

Damaged fruits orchards in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Swat, Shangla, and Dir districts, the recent torrential rains and flash floods have adversely affected standing wheat crops on hundreds of acres of land inundated by the gushing water, inflicting substantial economic losses to poor farmers now looking for Govt. assistance

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Apr, 2024) Damaged fruits orchards in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Swat, Shangla, and Dir districts, the recent torrential rains and flash floods have adversely affected standing wheat crops on hundreds of acres of land inundated by the gushing water, inflicting substantial economic losses to poor farmers now looking for Govt. assistance.

In KP, the financial woes of affected farmers were further increased after flash floods in rivers Punjkora and Kabul entered in standing wheat crops, especially in low-laying and rivers bed areas of Nowshera, Peshawar, and Charsadda districts.

Kamal Khan, a 28 years old progressive wheat farmer and a resident of village Mohib Banda Nowshera district told APP that the climate change-induced weather patterns including the recent torrential rains and high floods in River Kabul have brought havoc to wheat crops besides the delayed harvesting process in KP.

Kamal is worried regarding the harvesting of wheat crops on his five acres of agricultural lands at Mohib Banda located south of River Kabul after the gushing flood water inundated it completely on Tuesday morning.

The farmer along with three other brothers was seen pumping out flood and rain water from his field from dawn to dusk, hoping to start the wheat harvesting process as soon as possible.

Kamal Khan and the flood-hit farmers of Mohib Banda and adjoining villages of Nowshera and Charsadda districts have demanded that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government provide them compensation.

Kamal, who was also among hundreds of thousands of people affected by the 2022 floods, has expressed a strong resolve to come again to his field on Wednesday morning to pump out all the remaining standing water.

KP agriculture department officials told APP that a survey of the standing wheat crops and fruit orchard gardens affected by the recent torrential rains and flash floods would soon be started and relief to be provided to the affectees based on the survey's report.

He said that areas located in river beds in Nowshera and Charsadda were most vulnerable to flash floods as evidenced of the August 28, 2022 flooding that brought havoc to hotels, agriculture, livestock, and fisheries sectors in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Starting from Mataltan, Mahudhand, and Kalam valleys in Upper Swat, the 2022 floods badly damaged the irrigation sector especially canals, watercourses, channels, tubewells, and flood protection walls, and still substantial financial resources were required for its reconstruction.

The restoration of flood-hit water sources for agricultural purposes is also a big challenge and the farmers years were eying on new KP Govt to rebuild the destroyed irrigation infrastructures as quickly as possible to increase wheat production.

The destruction of lift irrigation, SCARP, and irrigation projects and watercourses out of rivers and canals in Hazara, Malakand, Peshawar, Bannu, and DI Khan divisions by the 2022 floods caused negative effects on wheat, rice, maize, and fruits orchards in KP.

He said the velocity of the 2022 floods was so high that it not only swept away canals and flood protection walls but also destroyed tube wells and lift-canal irrigation schemes in KP, creating a lot of problems for wheat growers today.

Ahmed Said, former Senior Planning Officer of the KP Agriculture Department told APP that farmers have pinned high expectations from the KP government for its speedy reconstruction.

He said that Pakistan was among the 10th countries vulnerable to climate change.

He said the climate change-induced weather patterns have negatively impacted agriculture production in Pakistan and the time has come to plant trees more and more vital to slow rainwater velocity.

Ahmed Said that Pakistan was the eighth leading wheat production country in the world after China, India, Russia, USA, Canada, Australia, and Ukraine and its ranking could be improved by constructing new dams to bring the vast arid and dryland under agriculture cover.

He said that Pakistan's total wheat consumption grew to 30.2 metric tons from 29.2 metric tons in 2022-23 while the 32.12metric tons target was fixed for 2023-24 by the Federal Committee on Agriculture (FCA).

He said that Punjab has been projected to produce 25 metric tonnes of wheat while Sindh’s target is four metric tons followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s 1.6m tonnes and Balochistan’s 1.5metric tonnes during 2024 which could be produced from 8.9 million hectares.

Ahmed Said that KP’s canals irrigate about 2.25 million acres of agricultural lands to cater food requirements of the population that passed the psychological barrier of 241 million mark this year.

The surveys and field formations’ reports of the KP Irrigation Department have revealed that out of about Rs22.387 billion in damages caused by the 2022 floods to the irrigation sector, about Rs3.245 billion losses were incurred to flood mitigation and drainage infrastructure projects having accumulative length of 90 kilometers and 237 irrigation structures in the province.

Two projects i.e. “restoration of irrigation structures and water drainage system” worth Rs3.245 billion and restoration of water supplies and channels in irrigation system” worth Rs2.457 billion were approved for KP non-ADP schemes after the devastated floods.

The official said the PC-I of both projects was approved and practical work on the restoration of canals and irrigation structures had already started to facilitate the farmers.