KARACHI: Sindh Agriculture Minister Ismail Rahu on Wednesday said a recent survey conducted by his ministry had revealed that the monsoon rains had benefited the crops in the province.

“We have got a survey [done] of Sindh’s crops that shows monsoon rains have positively benefited our crops,” said Minister Rahu while speaking to reporters at his office.

He said the ministry had submitted its survey report to him that brought good news for the agriculture sector of Sindh. “Several seasonal crops have been positively benefited by the monsoon rains which included cotton, sugar cane, vegetables etc,” said the minister.

Referring to the contents of the survey vis-à-vis crops in various districts, he said the farmers and peasants were jubilant over the arrival of a beneficial monsoon to their regions. Those districts included Thar, Umerkot, Mirpurkhas, Tando Allahyar, Tando Mohammad Khan, Badin, Hyderabad, Matiari and Jamshoro.

However, the remaining districts also reported positively, which included fringes of Karachi, Dadu, Thatta, Sanghar, Benazi­rabad, Naushahro Feroze, Khairpur, Sukkur, Ghot­ ki, Larkana, Qambar, Jacobabad, Kashmore and Shikarpur etc. “Such reports are heartening for our economy since Sindh depends heavily on its agriculture sector and we hope we would be recipients of the same positive effect this year as well.

“We have seen how our farmers and peasants are happy with the arrival of monsoon rains,” Mr Rahu said.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2019