By IANS,
Islamabad : Twenty-six percent of paddy, 75 percent of cotton and almost the entire melon crops in Pakistan’s Sindh province have perished in floods. Sugarcane and banana also bore the brunt, said officials Friday.
According to the agriculture department, crops worth Rs.218 billion (about $2.4 billion) have been destroyed.
Red pepper, tomato, onion etc. were also hit by the nonstop rain and the subsequent flooding. The limited supply of vegetables has caused their prices to shoot up in the markets, Geo TV reported.
To meet the shortfall, the Pakistani traders have meanwhile imported onions and tomatoes from India.
Sindh has been reeling under floods since mid-August due to persistent rain. Thousands of people have been displaced.
The UN Friday announced about $17 million in emergency aid to Pakistan. The money will be used to provide assistance in healthcare, safe water, sanitation, food, shelter material, blankets and other life-saving support, said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).