ISLAMABAD, Sept 2: The federal agriculture ministry has asked food departments in Sindh and Balochistan to immediately send area-wise details of damages caused by recent floods to the rice crop in the two provinces.

Official sources told Dawn on Sunday that the floods were feared to have curtailed rice production by more than 200,000 tons. The federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal), in collaboration with the provincial food departments, has already conducted an initial survey which has revealed some disturbing figures — severe damages to more than 271,000 acres of rice paddies only in Sindh.

Initial estimates suggest that about 20-25 per cent of the crop in Sindh has been damaged.

“The damage in Balochistan can be substantial as well,” a source in Minfal said.

It now seems unlikely that the target of producing 5.7 million tons of rice this year will be achieved.

In value term, the recent floods and rains damaged crops worth $230-250 million in the two provinces. Cotton was the other major crop damaged by the floods.

“We will soon have the final figures in our hands, but the final estimates can swell further,” a high-level official in Minfal said.

He said the floods had also damaged dates, chilly and onion crops in a number of areas with expected 25-30 per cent losses.

Mostly, the IRRI-6 variety of rice (a quarter of which is consisted of broken rice) was sown on the 271,000 acres affected in Sindh.

A target of producing 2.28 million tons of IRRI rice, mostly in Sindh, had been set for this year. However, the target is likely to be missed.

Last year, the country produced 5.438 million tons of rice, two per cent less than the year before, and 4.5 per cent lower than the target for that year.