Karachi:Provincial Minister for Agriculture Muhammad Ismail Rahu said Tuesday that recent rains had destroyed millions of acres of crops, but the federation had not made any announcement or statement in this regard as 70 to 90 percent of crops in 15 districts of Sindh had been destroyed.
He said this while addressing a press conference at Sindh Assembly Building on the recent rains in the province and the damage done to agriculture. The minister further said that rains in Sindh had destroyed cotton, rice, chili, tomato and other crops.
He asked the federal government to impose an agricultural emergency in the Sindh province. Rahu said that 75 percent cotton was damaged in Tando Allahyar, MirpurkKhas 80, Umerkot 80, Jamshoro 15 and Hyderabad 30. The provincial minister said that sugarcane was cultivated on 740,208 acres in the province in which nine percent sugarcane crop had been damaged in Naushehro Feroz, 18 percent in Badin, 50 percent in Tando Allahyar and 5 percent in Tando Muhammad Khan.
He said that due to recent rains, tomato crop in Umerkot, Mirpurkhas and Badin had been completely destroyed, while banana crop in Tando Allahyar had been 70 percent destroyed. Ismail Rahu said that the rice crop in Thatta had been damaged by 15 percent, Badin by 40 percent and Tando Muhammad Khan by 20 percent.
He said that due to poor policies of the federation, the farmers of the province were worried. The exorbitant increase in the prices of seeds, fertilizers and medicines had also affected the farmers. He said that even the ministers sitting in the federal cabinet elected from Sindh had not done anything for the province.