Dated: 02-03-2012

Food security, livelihood concerns remain high among farmers:Gohar Ali Khan HYDERABAD: Out of the approximate 1,784,125 crop acres that were damaged during last years flood in eight calamity-hit districts of Sindh, an alarming 624,242 acres were yet not ready to support the Rabi season. This has further increased the food security and made livelihoods of flood-affected farmers venerable, a report released by the Peoples Accountability Commission on floods (PACF) said on Thursday. The governments inordinate delay in relief works has jeopardised the lives of farmers in rain and flood- hit districts of southern Sindh as the government failed to drain out accumulated water and provide agriculture input. Members of PACF said that 1,390 square kilometers of land is still under accumulation of rainwater. They said that districts administration concerned failed to dewater the land particularly crop land from districts, including Tando Allahyar, Mirpurkhas, Sanghar, Badin, Shaheed Benazirabad, Umerkot, causing 564,578 acres unattended due to the delayed dewatering process. They added that during the flood of 2011, livestock amounting to 113,866 had died and 194,443 were sold due to diseases and lack of animal fodder in Mirpurkhas, Umerkot, Sanghar, Tando Allahyar, Tando Muhammad Khan, Badin, Shaheed Benazirabad and Tharparkar. District Tharparkar is an arid zone and the main source of income is livestock for majority of the households, where more than 30,623 cattle perished. Highlighting the importance of the livestock in food security, they added that livestock is a secure source of income for small farmers and landless poor. According to the latest economic survey of Pakistan, livestock accounted for approximately 55.1 per cent of the agriculture value and is the best hope for poverty alleviation. Currently at least five million animals are at risk because they lack feed and shelter and are exposed to diseases. They said that poultry farms have also suffered losses of tens of millions of rupees. Similar has been the fate of fish farms in flood affected districts. They said that poultry sector generates employment and income for about 1.5 million people. Its contribution in agriculture value addition is 4.8 percent and livestocks value addition is 9.8 percent. Poultry meat contributes 24.8 percent to the total meat production in the country. The current investment in poultry industry is about Rs200 billion. Poultry sector has shown a robust growth of 8-10 percent annually, which reflects its potential. Talking on the losses and damages to standing crops and stored food due the rain-flood civil society situation, the report said that 73 percent of crops and 67 percent of food stocks have been lost- deteriorating the accessibility and availability of the food to thirteen flood-affected districts.

Besides, Sindh has the highest malnutrition rate in the country with 22.9 per cent of population in the northern part of the province and 21.2 per cent in the south facing the problem. The rate is well above the World Health Organizations 15 per cent emergency threshold which triggers a humanitarian response. They said that proportion of food insecure household was categorised as food insecure without hunger (28.4percent), food insecure with moderate hunger (19.8percent) and food insecure with severe hunger (9.8percent). Talking on the negative impact of the food insecurity due to the floods, the civil security members said that food-affected people are suffering from deficiency of hemoglobin 60.2%, Vitamin D Deficiency 85%, malnourishment 70%, anemic children 62% and most of them are suffering zinc and vitamin deficiencies. Expressing the concerns over the losses and damages for early recovery framework interventions, the civil society members said that cotton has been the most affected crop (with 92% of production lost in some areas), and then sugarcane production (81%) also lost in the flooded areas. Additionally, 57.4% of affected families reported losses of livestock either through death of animals or having to sell on animals for cash to support themselves during the crisis. Furthermore, 40% of households reported that their main economic activity has discontinued, whilst 48% reported economic activities were disrupted. Besides this, humanitarian funding on food security has suffered 47% gap during emergency relief. The members of the PACF said that the situation is getting worse day by day. The report urged authorities concerned to expedite the process of dewatering from Taluka, jhano Mari, Taluka Chamber district Tando Allhayar and Taluka Tando Bago from District Badin, and some other areas under water in many districts so that land can be used for agriculture and shelter purpose. The report also suggested providing crop compensation to the farmers for the agriculture rehabilitation.