The United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and Department for International Development (DFID) of United Kingdom on Friday signed an agreement to provide wheat and vegetable seeds, fertiliser, animal feed, and basic veterinary medicines to some 115,800 families affected by floods.
Director-General FAO Dr Jacques Diouf said floods were the greatest disaster in the history of United Nations and FAO is committed to providing Pakistan with every possible support in this difficult time. He appreciated the support being provided by DFID in efforts to assist millions of flood affected people. He added that FAO so far has received $87 million form donors out of $107 million.
Under the agreement DFID UK would fund the FAO with £7 million (Rs 957 million) to provide around 38,600 farming households in Balochistan and the Punjab with 50 kg of wheat seed and 100 kg of fertiliser. These are areas where the floodwaters have receded and farmers are now able to sow their winter wheat crop. The assistance would also be provided to around 77,200 households in Sindh, Balochistan, and Punjab with 180 kg of animal feed and basic veterinary medicines, enough to sustain a cow/buffalo or two sheep/goats for several months.
He said 115,800 households with a winter vegetable seed pack containing tomatoes, peas, turnips and spinach, either to eat or sell for income. The funding from DFID will allow families and farmers to sow wheat seeds before the current Rabi planting season ends in early December, as well as enable them to grow winter vegetables, helping them avoid dependency on food aid for the next year or more.
The UK also confirmed it is funding 40 new schools in Swat district, Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa, to replace some of those destroyed by the floods, which will benefit some 9,000 students. Under the programme refresher training for teachers will also be provided.
The agreement signing ceremony was attended by Federal Minister for Food and Agriculture Nazar Muhammad Gondal, British High Commissioner to Pakistan Adam Thomson; Head of the Department for International Development-Pakistan George Turkington; and the Director General of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation Dr Jacques Diouf.
Nazar Muhammad Gondal appreciating the assistance provided by the FAO and DFID said that the recent flood was unprecedented and most devastating natural calamity of Pakistan's history, which damaged agriculture sector and left millions of people jobless and homeless.
He said that Pakistan is an agro-based economy and regaining the lost potential in agriculture would definitely guide Pakistan to achieve an over all economic prosperity. British High Commissioner Adam Thomson said: "It is three months since the devastating floods first hit Pakistan. The UK will continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Pakistan in this disaster, both now and in the long term as people rebuild their lives and communities. And we will continue to encourage the Government of Pakistan to set out robust plans for long term reconstruction, growth, and economic reform."
Head of DFID-Pakistan George Turkington said that four out of five people affected by the floods are dependent on farming, and with more than two million hectares of crop land lost, it's vital to enable them sow new vegetable and provide them wheat seeds over the coming month, otherwise families could be dependent on aid for another year or more.
The UK Government so far has committed a total of £134 million (Rs 18 billion) to help people in Pakistan affected by the floods, while the UK public has generously donated a further £64 million (more than Rs 8.5 billion) through the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal, he added.
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