Talking to APP during a briefing on crop situation to the Committee, he said it was a matter of concern for the country as other crops including chilies and sugarcane have also been damaged in the flooding caused by heavy rain and overflowing of LBDO.

He said Pakistan had also incurred a loss of 2.6 million cotton bales in last year's floods.

Ansari said that the country was expecting a bumper cotton crop of 15 million bales this year, but the untimely rains have devastated rich crop areas in Mirpurkhas, Hyderabad and Badin.

He said the government needs to compensate losses of growers and the committee will recommend the authorities including Speaker National Assembly to discuss this situation in the House and ask the government to make some announcements in this regard.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011