PESHAWAR, Aug 28: Inundation of vast tracts of agricultural land in several parts of the Frontier province following the recent spate of flash floods has affected thousands of small farmers who lost standing crops and livestock, according to agriculture sector experts.
Figures obtained from the NWFP flood relief commission reveal that standing crops on more than 46,500 acres of land in Charsadda, Mardan, Dir Lower, Peshawar, Dera Ismail Khan and Karak districts were affected when overflowing rivers and watercourses submerged more than 500 villages.
However, the official figures were rejected by farmers’ representatives when contacted by Dawn. They said the area under crops affected by floodwater was much more than shown in the official data.
“The government agencies underreport the figures of losses suffered by farmers to deny them their right to relief and compensation,” said Jan Nisar Khalil, president of the Ittehad-i-Zameendaran wa Kashtkaran, NWFP.
He said tobacco crop in the Mardan district was destroyed, costing small farmers whatever they could have earned for their livelihood for the next year.
Ikramullah Khan, former head of the Agriculture Development Bank of Pakistan, and currently president of the Anjuman-i-Kashtkaran Tambaku, said that the inundation of standing crops would have far-reaching effects for farmers.
Challenging the government’s figures, he said the farmers had not only lost their standing crops, but they had also to experience the consequences of inundation of their cultivated area for a much longer period as the floodwater undermined the fertility of the submerged lands.
“Top soil which takes 10 to 15 years to develop has been eroded in majority of areas because of the floodwater,” said Mr Khan, adding that the nature of losses suffered by the NWFP farmers was much grave than the losses suffered by farmers in Punjab and Sindh due to the floods.
Explaining his point, Mr Khan said floodwater caused more damage to the NWFP’s farmers because of the location of their lands as water flowed in high speed on its way to south (to planes in Punjab and Sindh) from the northern parts (Peshawar valley and upper regions of the Frontier province making part of Malakand).
Floodwater, according to agriculture sector sources, washed away crops of vegetables grown on a vast area in Peshawar valley forming Nowshera, Peshawar, Mardan, Charsadda and Swabi districts, causing huge losses to farmers. Similarly, a large area under fruit orchards, sugarcane and tobacco has been hit by floodwater in many districts of the province.
Mr Khan said farmers’ demands put forth recently to the provincial government by a conglomerate of four associations of growers and owners of landholdings for helping out the farmers community had not yet been responded positively by authorities concerned.
He said the provincial government should constitute a high-powered commission to evaluate losses suffered by farmers and overall damages caused to arable land on the basis of which, he added, the government should devise a strategy to rehabilitate affected farmers as well as the land.
A delegation of farmers, according to him, had met the secretary for the agriculture department, NWFP, to bring farmers’ issues into the provincial government’s knowledge.