Daily Times

A substantial chunk of the non-basmati rice crop has been damaged by the recent floods. 65 to 70 per cent of rice nurseries have been completely washed away by torrential monsoon rains, and those that weren’t completely destroyed are still heavily inundated. Before the monsoon, Sindh experienced one of its worst heat spells: farmers faced an acute water shortage that prevented them from tending to their rice crops properly. After the floods, nonetheless, no hope remained for their crops or the economy, which exports approximately $2 billion worth of rice annually, with Sindh being the biggest contributor.

Major losses were also observed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where 175,000 tons of rice were damaged–the total value of the losses currently stands at a staggering Rs 91 billion. Luckily, rice production in the country can still support domestic demand so all hope is not lost, but the price of the crop will inevitably witness an increase. It is also highly unlikely that the commodity will be exported on the scale it typically is. The rupee’s depreciation has also complicated the equation for exporters, who now need to spend far more money to send their crops abroad. Rice exporters do not stand a chance in the international market unless some miraculous power relief by the government trickles down.

Pakistan is the world’s fourth largest rice exporter-countries that rely on our exports will need to find alternative sources, which will exert additional pressure on global commodity supplies. The cash-strapped federal government is still preoccupied with carrying out rescue and relief operations but does not have the financial resources to compensate for the seemingly unending climate-related losses it has suffered.

Our disaster-response mechanisms are abysmal, to say the least. More long-term intervention will, therefore, be required to uplift our rice exporters, who must brace themselves for a challenging year. Agricultural land rehabilitation should be prioritised above all else-the government must rebuild irrigation and drainage mechanisms in affected areas and finance stronger crop varieties that can resist the pressure of climate change. There is also an obvious need for embankments and walls to divert floodwater and mitigate the severity of the damage. Pakistan should not hesitate to ask its more powerful allies for technical and financial assistance and it must do so quickly-time is not on our side. *