Farming is becoming difficult and costlier day by day. The farming crisis in Punjab has deepened this year due to the failure of the monsoon, as a result of which the farmers had to invest more money to raise kharif crops, particularly paddy. This impression was given by the farmers from various parts of Punjab, who visited the two-day kisan mela of Punjab Agricultural University.
Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani Thursday said food security is the foremost priority of the government and vowed that every effort would be made in this regard. The Prime Minister was talking to Federal Minister for Food and Agriculture Nazar Muhammad Gondal Thursday, who briefed him about the food situation as well as progress on various initiatives taken for the welfare of the farmers.
A preliminary report prepared by the district administration has stated that the overflow of the Yamuna river has destroyed crops spread over 11,000 acres and damaged 118 houses in 62 villages of five tehsils of the district.
The report comprising details of damages suffered by the farmers from September 10 to 14 was today sent to the government by DC Amit Kumar Agarwal.
There is an urgent need to adopt long-term relief measures to tide over the current crisis, and the policy-makers should not go back to the business-as-usual attitude once the emergency situation recedes.
Alok Ray
India is suffering from a double whammy. On top of the impact of the global recession, now we have the worsening drought situation.
Agricultural scientists here are concerned over the recent erratic behaviour of monsoon. They are of the opinion that if this behaviour of monsoon continues, the agricultural practices
Monsoon this year has failed most of India, causing drought in even well-irrigated and rainfed areas. Read this latest Down To Earth report on how our food preferences are making us vulnerable to drought.
Owing to a 100-foot-wide breach in the Ghaggar river, which occurred last night near Makror Sahib village (near Moonak), water entered standing crops on about 2,000 acres in several villages, including Moonak, Fulad, Salemgarh, Bhunder Bhaini and Surjan Bhaini, while crops on about 1,000 acres have been almost submerged.
Pakistan can benefit from 60 years long Chinese research in agriculture sector for superior crop varieties to meet their ever increasing national food grain requirements. Leader of the 4-member Chinese private sector delegation Dr John Liu talking to Vice Chancellor, Punjab University Professor Mujahid Kamran here Thursday, during their visit to varsity, said.
Even as almost half of the country (399 districts across 12 states) reeled under drought, a week of excess rainfall after three weeks of near normal rainfall across India has revived the hope of the government to recover losses in kharif crop output by further intensifying focus on next rabi crop.
Farm scientists and experts from SAARC countries today expressed concern over the gradual loss of soil fertility in the Indo-Gangetic plain during the past four decades and described it as a grave threat to the sustainability of agricultural crops in the region.
