47. Pakistan Economic Survey 2011-12 - Consultancy Services in ...

Pakistan Economic Survey 2011-12Pakistan. Other Rabi crops include fodder,vegetable, and fruits. Commercial production offruit and vegetable, particularly for the main urbanmarkets has increased rapidly in recent years,particularly close to major cities or where agroclimaticconditions are favorable. Important fruitsinclude mangoes, citrus, dates and banana in thetropical and subtropical areas like Sindh, as well asa range of semi-temperate fruits like grapes,peaches, apples in Balochistan. Importantvegetables include potato, tomato, chilies andonions.Livestock is an integral part of the farming systemand is the main asset for many farmers. Buffaloand cattle are mainly kept for milk, with draftpower, meat and hides being other importantproducts. Most households also have sheep, goatand poultry for domestic consumption as well asfor sale. Fodder, wheat straw, maize thinnings andStover are used for livestock. Animals are alsograzed on rangelands (particularly in Balochistan),pastures and crop stubble. Concentrate feed iswidely used in commercial poultry farms and forlactating cattle. In addition to the settledagricultural population, there are also a significantnumber of transhumants (Gujars) who move withinthe country as well as in the region and specializein the rearing of sheep and goat. Their animals aremostly for sale to the large urban centersparticularly during Eid times when it is traditionalto sacrifice sheep or goats.Pakistan has a significant fisheries sectorproducing about 1.00 million tons of fish productsannually. About two thirds of this are from marinesources (70 percent from Sindh) and mostlycomprise prawn and demersal species. The rest isfrom inland sources. Inland fisheries were largelyrestricted to the main rivers and canals. However,in recent years there has been a rapid increase inaquaculture with many farmers using small pondsand other water bodies. Supplies of fingerlingscome from a few large government hatcheries butthere has been a rapid increase in private sectoractivity in the area particularly in Sindh.Sindh and northern parts of Balochistan provinces.The subsequent breaches in the drainage canal[Left Bank Outfall Drain (LBOD)] at severallocations resulted in submerging of vast areas.While it was mostly the right side of the riverIndus hit by floods last year, this time it wasmostly the left side. In Sindh, the central andsouthern districts of Badin, Dadu, Hyderabad,Kamber Shahdadkot, Khairpur, Larkana, Matiari,Mirpurkhas, Neushero Feroze, Sangar, ShaheedBenazirabad, Tando Allahyar, Tando MohammadKhan, Thatta, Tharparkar, Umerkot have been theworst affected. The Provincial DisasterManagement Authority (PDMA) and the SindhDepartment of Agriculture Extension estimate thatstanding crops of cotton, rice, sugar cane,sorghum, vegetables and pulses have beendestroyed on about 0.84 million hectares of land.Similarly the livestock sub sector also sufferedheavy losses. The Directorate of AnimalHusbandry, Sindh has reported that approximately115,500 livestock have perished and about 5million surviving livestock have been directlyaffected.The floods have heavily impacted the agriculturesector, with damages to crops, livestock, fisheries,poultry and on-farm water distributioninfrastructure. The total loss estimated is US$1,840.3 million, of which 89 percent is in the formof direct damage and 11 percent is in the form ofindirect losses. Sindh suffered most with 94percent of total damage and Balochistan with 6percent. The losses were largest in the cropssubsector, which accounted for 91.5 percent,including estimates of damages to Kharif crops;food and seed stocks; on-farm irrigation waterfacilities; and support services for crops, as well asindirect damages to the forthcoming Rabi 2011-12and Kharif 2012 crops. The most affected crops arecotton with 74 percent damages to the overallplanted area in the affected districts. In terms of thedamage to different crops it is estimated that landarea under rice 33 percent, sugarcane 34 percent,vegetables 79 percent and fruits 32 percent wasaffected adversely.The heavy monsoon rains during this year causedrenewed and devastating flooding in southern250