?I never saw so much water in my life,' locals say, as they plot how to restart farming
KARACHI, Pakistan (AlertNet) – Although Ramesh is only about 10 years old, he’s well-accustomed to farm work. But he struggles to comprehend the flooding that has submerged the agricultural fields where he toils. He imagines that it will take 10 years or more for the waters to recede.
“I never saw so much water in my life,” he says.
Heavy monsoon rains that began in mid-August have inundated 22 of the 23 districts of Sindh province, flooding about one million hectares (2.5 million acres) of land, and damaging or destroying three-quarters of the crops and two-thirds of the food stocks.
The extreme weather, which experts believe is linked to climate change, has ravaged areas still suffering from the effects of extensive flooding in 2010.
As many as 600,000 people are living in tents, unable to return home because of the standing water. Millions more are destitute and face an uncertain and food-insecure future, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
Malnourished and barefoot, wearing a discoloured shirt and shalwar kameez, Ramesh has taken refuge at Naukot Relief Camp in Tharparkar district, some 55 km (34 miles) from the district headquarters of Mithi. The usually arid but serene landscape has been transformed.
“My friends either were washed away by floods or displaced,” Ramesh said. “I am not aware where they are.”
Syed Sajjad Ali Shah, coordinator of the Thardeep Rural Development Programme, a grassroots non-governmental organisation involved in relief efforts, said that at the peak of the flooding there were about 15,000 families at Naukot Relief Camp, although about half have since returned home.
NO HOMES, NO CROPS
For many “there is nothing left there (at home) - no abode, no crops,” said Dayo, 45, a farmer from Fazal Bhummbro union council, about 7 km (5 miles) from Naukot, who reached the relief camp on foot.
“The army is providing us food. They provide us rice but we have not received it for the last four days,” Dayo said.
He predicted that the floodwaters would remain for at least the rest of the year.
“I don’t think we will be able to have a crop this year,” he added.
The FAO says that while 16 million people throughout Pakistan were affected by flooding in 2010, this year’s inundations have affected 8 million in Sindh province alone.
Kaiser Bengali, an economist and former government adviser for planning and development, said that because last year’s floods were caused primarily by swollen rivers, it was possible to anticipate where flooding would occur. This enabled people to move their livestock and belongings to higher ground. In 2011, by contrast, things happened much more suddenly.
“This year’s flood came vertically when it began to rain. Everybody expected the rain to stop within an hour or two at the most. Instead it rained for 10 to 15 hours and people found themselves and livestock surrounded by flood water,” said Bengali.
“They were trapped by the floods and even if they managed to move to higher ground without their livestock they could not find any dry wood for cooking. Livestock losses this year were heavy,” he added.
Nearly 78,000 head of livestock have died, and at least 5 million surviving animals are at risk, lacking feed and shelter and exposed to diseases and worm infestations.
Luigi Damiani, the FAO’s senior emergency and rehabilitation coordinator, said that a flood of this extent normally occurs only every 50 to 100 years.
“People don’t have a memory of that disaster and data is usually not available” to help them cope, Damiani explained.
Khalid Memon, the secretary for irrigation in the provincial government, said the province received far more rainfall the normal, including 1,300 mm (5 inches) in Mithi alone.
MAN-MADE PROBLEMS
A number of factors made a bad situation worse, according to Damiani. While some, such as high tides during the critical days, were beyond human control, others were not, including the limited capacity of drainage systems, man-made barriers such as roads, railways and canals, and the slow pace of recovery from the previous year’s floods.
Bengali pointed out that irrigation, drainage, water supply and sewerage systems are clogged with silt and in need of rebuilding. He highlighted a further threat to agricultural recovery – the fact that many drains were carrying salty or toxic water, which may have infiltrated farmland.
“To what extent the topsoil has been destroyed by the toxicity will be known after the standing flood water has evaporated,” Bengali said.
The FAO has appealed to donors for almost $19 million of relief funding for the agriculture sector.
Helping farmers get the loans they need to restart agriculture may be a particular problem.
“Small farmers thrive on loans,” said Humaira Alwani, a member of the Sindh Assembly. “Now there is nobody to offer them loans. Even white-collar people have lost everything overnight,” she added.
Damiani believes recovery efforts should focus on the provision of seed and fertilizer in time for the upcoming winter planting season. He also called for the rapid repair of damaged irrigation infrastructure, since 80 percent of Sindh’s wheat is irrigated.
“Carrying out these repairs through cash-for-work schemes will create much-needed income opportunities in the affected communities” he said.
Looking further ahead, Damiani sees the need for ongoing investment in infrastructure and planning to prevent further such disasters. This would include a review of the construction of river channels that disregard natural water flows, and of settlements built in low-lying areas.
In addition, Damiani believes that better planning to reduce and manage the risk of disasters is essential.
“The following step is to build up in the rural communities the awareness for the incumbent risks and get ready. The same kind of approach needs to be adopted and conceptualised by all operators at field level including the line ministries,” Damiani said.
Shahid Husain is a special correspondent for Pakistan's national English daily The News. He is also Pakistan bureau chief for The Sunday Indian.
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