Bilawal tells Sindh govt to reimburse all growers seed price in 20 days

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has directed the Sindh government to start paying cash to all growers in the province within the next 20 days as reimbursement for the seed they have already purchased to grow the rabi crops.

“Rain and floods have already caused huge losses to growers, and now they have prepared their lands for the rabi crops, so they must be supported to meet the requirements of their agricultural inputs,” he said.

Bilawal, who is the foreign minister of the country and the chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), issued the order during a meeting that he chaired at the Chief Minister House on Monday to review the post-flood situation in the province.

The meeting was attended by CM Syed Murad Ali Shah, provincial ministers, Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput, Planning & Development Chairman Hassan Naqvi, CM’s Principal Secretary Fayaz Jatoi and secretaries of different government departments.

Seed supply

Bilawal was informed in the meeting that standing crops over an area of 3.6 million acres have been damaged in the recent floods, which have caused losses of Rs421 billion to the growers.

The CM said that in order to provide relief to farmers, it has been decided to provide free inputs to them. “As a first step, an exercise is under way to compensate the farmers for wheat seed through cash transfers,” he said, adding that Rs5,000 will be given for per acre cultivation.

Replying to a question, he told the PPP chief that the proposal to provide subsidy on fertiliser is going to be worked out once the funding commitments from the federal government are fulfilled. He said that Rs46 billion is required for this intervention.

The CM said the World Bank is supporting the farmers holding land of up to 25 acres. On this Bilawal directed Shah to give compensation for wheat seed to all the farmers regardless of the size of their landholding.

CM’s agriculture adviser Manzoor Wassan told the meeting that wheat has been sown over an area of 2.43 million acres. The chief executive said that Rs45.51 billion will be required if fertiliser is provided to the growers.

Bilawal formed a committee under Wassan, with ministers Sharjeel Memon and Syed Nasir Shah, to collect and verify the data of farmers so that aid disbursement to the growers can be made at the earliest. He said farmers should be provided with financial assistance through phone-based branch-less banking system.

Resilient houses

The PPP chairman said that keeping in view the impact of climate change, there is a dire need to construct weather-resilient houses for the flood-affected people.

He said that with such houses they can survive even if another natural calamity like heavy rains or floods is to hit them. “We need houses that can withstand droughts, heavy downpours, storms, floods and other such disasters.”

The CM told him that heavy downpours and floods have damaged 1.7 million houses fully or partially, creating an urgent need for shelter across the province.

“The Sindh government intends to immediately initiate rehabilitation efforts for the affected families, so we are finalising a standard for housing reconstruction for the affected people.” On this Bilawal suggested that the houses be weather-resilient so they can withstand future calamities. “But this may take more time to select the technology, so the package for the construction of damaged houses must be finalised at the earliest.”

Replying to a query, the CM told the PPP chief that Rs220 billion (Rs110 billion pledged by the World Bank, Rs55 billion by the federal government and Rs55 billion by the provincial government) has been arranged. He said that the estimated funding for reconstructing destroyed houses is Rs300 billion.

Shah said the PC-1 of the housing project is lying with the planning commission of the federal government. On this Bilawal said he will get it approved by the Centre, and assured the CM that more donors will be approached to meet the total requirement of the funds.

Relief activities

The PPP chairman was told that 749,979 tents, 525,177 tarpaulin sheets, 3.6 million mosquito nets and 2.2 million ration bags have been distributed among the flood victims in Sindh by the provincial government, the National Disaster Management Authority, the Pakistan Navy and the Pakistan Air Force.

Rise in poverty

The CM told the meeting that poverty in Sindh will increase by 8.9 to 9.7 percentage points. “Multidimensional poverty is expected to increase by 10.2 percentage points.” He said that among the provinces, the housing stock in Sindh has been affected the worst, accounting for 83 per cent of the total housing damages. Bilawal directed the Sindh government to implement the social protection plan so that poverty can be controlled.