PESHAWAR, July 7: The recent floods have badly damaged various crops in different parts of the Peshawar Valley. Growers from the affected areas told Dawn that the recent spell of flooding, which inundated dozens of localities in the Charsadda district and the rural areas of Peshawar, had played havoc with standing crops, affecting the livelihood of thousands.

Growers Alliance of NWFP president Jan-i-Nisar Khalil said floodwaters had submerged more than 7,000 acres of cultivable land. He said farmers of the Peshawar Valley had small land-holding, mainly ranging from two to three acres, and they usually cultivated sugarcane, tobacco and maize.

He said the floods had damaged sugarcane and maize crops on over 4,000 acres of land in the rural areas of the Peshawar district.

Tobacco was the worst-hit crop in Charsadda. This would inflict huge losses on growers because they would not be able to recover the amount they had spent on cultivation of the crops, he added. He called upon tobacco companies to compensate growers for their losses because they had already signed agreements with them.

Tobacco companies sign agreements with growers before the purchase season in June every year under which the companies are bound to purchase the produce and the growers cannot sell it in the open market.

Mr Khalil also urged the provincial government to declare the affected parts of the province as calamity-hit areas in order to mitigate miseries of farmers.