FPCCI’s Presidential candidate Atif Ikram Sheikh on Wednesday said that the country is drowning in floods.
Eight and a half hundred people and thousands of cattle have died, and the economy has lost trillions of rupees, he said.
He added that infrastructure, crops, businesses and houses worth billions of rupees have been destroyed and the people in one hundred districts need immediate help.
Atif Ikram Sheikh said that federal and provincial governments are trying to tackle the problem which is too big for them, therefore the international community should cooperate immediately.
Apart from other crops, the critically important cotton crop on which millions of farmers and the country’s exports depend has been destroyed.
Floods have left millions of farmers bankrupt and needing immediate assistance, he said, adding that imports worth billions of dollars will be made to meet the shortage of cotton.
The cotton imports will be affecting the balance of payments and foreign exchange reserves while it will increase the trade deficit.
The important textile sector is in trouble, and exports will be affected. Cotton and textile exports generate billions of dollars which cannot be ignored.
He noted that apart from floods, the causes of cotton crop destruction include substandard seeds, untimely rains, and spurious agrochemicals which have reduced the interest of farmers and the area under cultivation.
Sheikh said that floods are one of the most disastrous acts of nature and impact human life in multiple ways. Damages by floods in rural areas are more severe compared to urban areas due to poverty, limited infrastructures and access to resources and health care services therefore effective flood mitigation strategies should be adopted.
