FNs udvklingsprogram UNDP uddeler såsæd og gødning til omkring 10.000 pakistanske småbønder, der blev ramt af de voldsomme oversvømmelser i 2010.
ISLAMABAD, 4 January 2011: More than 1.400 flood-affected households in the Jhang and Sargodh districts of Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, are each receiving 50 kilos of seed, and bags of urea-based fertilizer for more than 4.000 acres of crop plantation.
“Plantation of winter crops is critical to ensure food for the next cycle,” said Jean-Luc Stalon, UNDP Deputy Country Director. “We are providing 550.000 US dollars to support flood-affected farmers in Punjab in planting winter crops such as wheat, barley, and oats.”
The flooding, that started in July, destroyed 270.000 acres of arable land and disrupted the crop-planting cycle in Punjab home to more than half of the country’s cultivated land, and where agriculture provides employment for two thirds of the population.
UNDP had been working with Punjab’s Department of Agriculture since 2006 to raise crop production levels in the area and had succeeded in recovering more than 120,000 acres of infertile land.
Parts of the destroyed land had been rehabilitated during the four years – through reduction of high salinity levels with application of minerals, such as gypsum, and digging of irrigation wells – leading to higher crop yields for the smallholder and subsistence farmers.
