UN PREDICTS GRIM AGRICULTURAL OUTLOOK FOR PAKISTAN FLOOD VICTIMS
Baku, September 8 (AZERTAC). The U.N. Food Agency says the agricultural outlook for millions of Pakistan`s flood victims is grim. It says the monsoon rains have destroyed huge areas of croplands, killed millions of animals and put in jeopardy future harvests.
The U.N.`s Food and Agriculture Organization is leading a damage assessment mission in Pakistan`s five flood-affected areas. So far, it has finished viewing the situation in about half of the 79 districts hard hit by the monsoon rains.
A senior FAO official, Sandra Avilas, says the initial findings show an unprecedented scale of damage. She says about 80 percent of people in the flood-affected areas depend on agriculture for their livelihoods and this has been all but destroyed.
"The floods and flash rains in the country have not only damaged agricultural crops, livestock, fisheries and forestry, but have destroyed primary infrastructure such as tube wells, water channels, household storages, houses, animal sheds, personal seed stocks and fertilizers; as well as other agriculture, machinery and equipment," she said.
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