Karachi:
The ongoing heavy rain and undulating floods have flooded large shards of agricultural land and destroyed clear-to-read crops over Pakistan, triggering fear of a food crisis and inflation, the UN and breeders warned on Monday.
The furious floods hit the northeastern Punjab, the country’s largest provincial and food basket, last week, immersed hundreds of villages, schools and health centers, washed livestock and destroy crops, except killing about 50 people and triggering evacuations.
The rolling floods have so far affected more than 2 million people in ad for evacuation of more than 700,000 people, according to official statistics.
The water flows further south to fall into the River Mighty Indus and fears to create destruction in southern Sindh province in the coming days.
“This is not normal, but it will be the new normal. Monsuner, driven by climate change, now brings fear and destruction to communities throughout Pakistan,” said Mo Yahya, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator, in a post on US social media company X, after visiting the flooding areas.
“Flooded rice fields extend as far as the eye can see. Farmers now face months without crops or income until the next plant season,” he said, sending a video of flooded agricultural land in Hafizabad district.
“This is only the beginning – more intense rain is expected in the coming weeks. When the water flows further south, it will threaten more families with displacement and destruction,” Yahya added.
“This is not just another natural disaster; this is #Climatechange.”
When Waqar Ahmad, who supports the warning, said Waqar Ahmad, Secretary General of the Kisan Board of Pakistan, a nationwide farmers’ body that the catastrophic floods have destroyed the three main crops of rice, sugar cane and sesame (oil -rich seeds) over Punjab.
“Rice crops have taken a toll in particular as the floods have hit the major rice -producing districts,” Rizvi told Anadolu.
According to him, 70% of the standing rice crop has been destroyed by the latest floods.
