Virus hits 40pc mango orchards in Sind

By Saleem Shaikh

March 06, 2011

Daily Dawn

KARACHI, March 5: Mango orchards on thousands of acres in Sindh have come under different viral disease attack.

The growers said that a large mango growing area has already been cleared to prevent the spread of disease. The situation is reported to be more serious in Hyderabad, Tando Allahyar, Shaheed Benazirabad, Matiari, Naushero Feroz, Sangarh and Umerkot districts.

Officials in the Plant Protection wing of the Sindh agriculture department confirmed reports of viral attack. At present, more than 40 per cent orchards are infected. They feared significant losses to the mango production this year.

Growers have complained that the official did not offer any help to fight the virus on their mango orchards.

“I have visited the office of EDO agriculture Matiari several times to seek their help to control the problem and save other nearby orchards, but the response was very poor,” said Nabi Khan Samejo, a prominent mango grower.

“No estimates about the total damage to the crop are available but it has become a limiting factor in many mango-growing areas,” said a senior official in the agriculture department`s extension wing.

Sindh Chamber of Agriculture (SCA) said that because of frequent viral attacks province`s overall mango output and its share in export would decline significantly.

Mango is cultivated in the province on around 56,000 hectares, with annual production of some 390,000 tons, according to provincial agriculture department`s statistics.

“But, mango crop this year is likely to post 30-40 per cent fall in the production due to the disease,” said mango growers.

They said it was intriguing that pest or viral attacks on mango orchards were more frequent in the province but there was no testing laboratory, where the mango growers could get help for overcoming the disease.

Mango grower Naveed Rahimo in Naushero Feroz said there was only one testing laboratory in Lahore, but it is very difficult to send samples of virus or disease-hit mango trees there and get the problem diagnosed.

Muhammad Afzal Arain, director Nuclear Institute for Agriculture, Tando Jam said two plant pathology laboratories have been established at the institute, where samples of the affected mango trees are being tested.

Former director Agriculture Research Institute in Tando Jam, Dr Abdul Sattar Buriro said that since the mango orchards were given on contracts to private investors, reports of viral attacks have become more frequent.

They do not invest in proper care of the orchards, he lamented.

He urged the farmers to avoid contracting their mango orchards and properly look after their gardens by ensuring proper irrigation and balanced nutrients.

Weblink: http://www.dawn.com/2011/03/06/virus-hits-40pc-mango-orchards-in-sindh.html

47,743 tons wheat seeds distributed in Sindh

By Saleem Shaikh

February 15, 2011

Daily Dawn

KARACHI, Feb 14: The Sindh government has distributed tons of wheat seeds and urea among the flood-hit farmers free of cost under its Rabi assistance plan.

However, the officials in the provincial agriculture department hope the step would help to rehabilitate the agriculture in flood-hit right bank districts and pave the way for robust Kharif sowing.

The federal Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) approved the plan worth Rs3.36 billion in December last year. According to the plan details, the federal government agreed to pay the half of the amount, Rs1.68 billion to the Sindh government while the rest was to be raised by the provincial government.

According to officials in the agriculture department till February 1, around 47,848 tons of wheat seeds and 14,030 tons of urea fertiliser had been distributed against requirements of 60,460 tons and 38,900 tons, respectively among the bona-fide flood-hit farmers.

The districts where the free farm inputs had been distributed are: Jacobabad, Kashmore-Kandhkot, Qambar-Shahdadkot, Shikarpur, Dadu, Thatta, Jamshoro, Larkana, Khairpur, Ghotki, Sukkur, Nausheroferoz, Shaheed Benazirabad, Matiyari and Tando Mohammad Khan, said Ashfaq Ahmed
Soomro, Additional Secretary of the agriculture department.

The department’s spokesman said that although the process of the distribution of free farm inputs was almost over, it continued in upper Sindh flood-hit areas.

“Because, the upper Sindh districts have late wheat sowing pattern, the flood-hit wheat growers can still obtain the free inputs,” he added.

The spokesman said that the provincial government was providing the fertilisers and seeds to each eligible farmer worth Rs30,000 on the basis of
area of affect land.

Weblink: http://www.dawn.com/2011/02/15/47743-tons-wheat-seeds-distributed-in-sindh.html

Managing dyke repairs before Kharif season

By Saleem Shaikh

Daily Dawn, February 14, 2011

THE cash-strapped Sindh government has not been able to fully restore damaged irrigation network despite passage of almost six months since the devastating floods hit the province last year.

Irrigation experts are worried that if the damaged river embankments are not rehabilitated and breaches plugged before the coming monsoon season in June, the problem may worsen.

The federal government has agreed to release Rs2.5 billion on an urgent basis.

A senior official in the provincial irrigation department, meanwhile, told this scribe that the Sindh government had released a sum of Rs2 billion from its own resources to re-start the rehabilitation work. The work would gear up once the promised funds start flowing in from the federal government.

The provincial irrigation secretary Rafique Memon said that he had already told the meeting of the Federal Ministry for Inter-provincial Coordination held in Islamabad few weeks back that Sindh urgently needed Rs8 billion for repairing river dykes.

He warned of far-reaching implications on the province’s agricultural economy, if the required funds were not released before mid-February.

Irrigation officials said the Sindh government was now waiting for immediate release of Rs5 billion for rehabilitation of dykes and canals to their original shape for its Kharif sowing.

If the provincial government will not manage the daunting task of rehabilitation in a short span of three months, the Kharif sowing that starts from April 15, will suffer.

“The Sindh government is very much aware of the dangers the broken river dykes and breaches pose to the provincial economy, but it is handicapped by the financial constraints,” said a senior official in the department.

After approval of the Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP), the provincial government had submitted 76 schemes worth Rs16 billion to the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) for its approval. But, only Rs14 billion were approved in the CDWP meeting held on January 22 for implementation of 64 schemes of urgent nature.

After the modus operandi for the release of the funds was being considered by the ECNEC, the federal government announced on February 2 to give Rs5 billion for priority projects .

Officials in the provincial irrigation department said that undue delay in the release of the approved amount of Rs5 billion was further delaying the rehabilitation work.

Sindh Irrigation Minister Jam Saifullah Dharejo said Tori Bund and Kot Almo breaches were not plugged with conventional irrigation department methods. These were plugged initially on emergency basis by stone-dumping to halt floodwater flow from there.

He also said that these breaches were still open and efforts were yet to be made to plug them properly. But it was not possible until the centre released the approved funds.

According to reports quoting official sources, around 1,946 breaches out of a total of 2,515 that occurred in different waterways, had been plugged at a cost of Rs1 billion.

Irrigation expert Idris Rajput said that floodwater enters Sindh in June. Therefore, rehabilitation of dykes and plugging of breaches should be completed before it, or else, the province would face yet another devastation.

The provincial chief minister has issued orders to the irrigation department to immediately kick off the strengthening of all damaged embankments and plugging of breaches by May this year. For, which he has released Rs2 billion from province’s own resources.

Irrigation experts doubt whether the hefty amount of Rs5 billion, released in installments by the centre to the provincial government, would be utilised efficiently and in a transparent manner.

“There is also a deep suspicion in the federal government about the Sindh government’s inability to efficiently utilise Rs5 billion before May this year for the quality rehabilitation work,” said Fazullah Qureshi, a former federal secretary planning and development.

Conceding to such doubts, he said that spending such a huge amount in a span of just three months was really a great challenge for the irrigation department in view of lack of capacity and efficiency.

He suggested: “If the government wants to restore the irrigation network in such a short span of time with transparent utilisation of funds following release of more funds by the federation, then it should first start plugging all breaches immediately and simultaneously, launch dykes repairing and strengthening work on them.”

He said that the government’s top priority should be quality work on the damaged irrigation network, with focus on monitoring of the rehabilitation work. Otherwise, the next possible flood would sweep away the irrigation system again and cause more massive damages than it caused last year.

Web link: http://www.dawn.com/2011/02/14/managing-dyke-repairs-before-kharif-season.html