Staple crops hit hardest by rains

–Rain destroys over 35,000 acres of wheat and corn crop in Punjab alone

The agriculture sector is in a severe crisis after suffering heavy losses in the recent spell of torrential rains, hailstorms and gusty winds.

In Punjab alone, the weather system that has struck the country for the past few days has destroyed around 35,000 acres of wheat and corn crop that was ready for harvest, a provincial minister said on Thursday.

According to initial estimates, 200,000 tonnes of wheat crop has been affected in the province.

In Faisalabad district, wheat crop on 5% of the total cultivated area has been affected. The rains and hailstorms have also destroyed vegetables and fruit orchards on 2% and 4.5% of the cultivated area in the province, respectively.

Agriculture Director Chaudhry Abdul Hameed said 33,787 acres of wheat crop, 510 acres of vegetable and 342 acres of fruit orchards have been affected in the Faisalabad district.

The rains and hailstorms have destroyed mango orchards in southern Punjab.

Mango Research Institute Director Allah Buksh said rains had damaged up to 15% of the mango produce in Shujabad, Dunyapur and other areas of the region.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has said the death toll in the torrential rains and flash floods in different parts of the country had reached 49.

According to an NDMA statement, the number of people who suffered injuries in rain-related incidents had hit 176.

The spell of heavy rains has also damaged 117 houses across the country.

Most of the deaths have been reported in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and eastern Punjab. At least 18 people were killed in K-P and 15 in Punjab. Eleven people died in Balochistan and five in Sindh.

Most deaths occurred in roof collapse and electrocution incidents.

The rains accompanied by gusty winds uprooted many trees and knocked down electricity poles and signboards in several cities, causing injuries to citizens.