The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization revised upward its monthly food price index to a 28-month high due to higher global prices of cereals, sugar and vegetable oils. >>>> More
Showing posts with label FAO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FAO. Show all posts
Thursday, December 2, 2010
FAO Food Price Index Hits 28-Month High
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization revised upward its monthly food price index to a 28-month high due to higher global prices of cereals, sugar and vegetable oils. >>>> More
Saturday, October 16, 2010
UN urges world unity against hunger
On World Food Day, officials call for a growth in agriculture to help almost one billion people facing chronic hunger.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has called for "urgent and concerted actions" from world leaders and international organisations to help put an end to chronic hunger, which affects almost one billion people across the globe.
Jacques Diouf, the FAO Director-General, Pope Benedict XVI, and the president of Rwanda were among leading figures backing the call on World Food Day on Saturday.
Jacques Diouf, the FAO Director-General, Pope Benedict XVI, and the president of Rwanda were among leading figures backing the call on World Food Day on Saturday.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Agriculture Groups Say Food Productivity Lagging
Oct 13 - Farmers around the world must ramp up food production dramatically to feed a rapidly expanding global population, a coalition of agricultural groups said in a report on Wednesday.
Meeting the needs of a global population estimated to jump roughly 50 percent to 9.2 billion by 2050, will require public and private investments in "science and technology" to boost agricultural productivity, the groups said.
"We need to do more with less and we must start implementing measures and policies that increase productivity today," said Bill Lesher, executive director of Global Harvest Initiative, the consortium of major agricultural companies, including Archer Daniels Midland, Monsanto, DuPont and Deere & Co that issued the report.
The group developed the agricultural productivity report in conjunction with the Farm Foundation, NFP, a public policy group, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economics Research Service (ERS).
The report said doubling agricultural output to meet global demand by 2050 will require an annual average growth of at least 1.75 percent in "total factor productivity" - defined as the increase in output per unit of total resources employed in production. Between 2000 and 2007, USDA's ERS estimates global agricultural total factor productivity growth averaged 1.4 percent per year.
"To close the gap without additional land and resources, we must increase the rate of productivity growth an average of 25 percent more per year over the next 40 years," said Neil Conklin, president of the Farm Foundation.
The groups said rising per capita wealth will lead consumers in developing countries to increase not only the quantity but also the quality of food they consume.
Today, cereals and root and tuber crops make up more than 60 percent of the global diet, but by 2050 the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization expects those staples will make up only 54 percent of food consumption, while animal proteins like meat and dairy, and vegetable oils will rise to nearly 40 percent of the global diet from about one-third today.
The groups said increased agricultural production should not be pursued by bringing more land into production and using more water or chemicals but through increased backing for technology that increases crop yields. They cited the need for strategies to use water more efficiently and improve infrastructure for water distribution, as well as improving labor productivity through mechanization.
"We have 40 years in which to double agricultural output, but we have to do it in a sustainable fashion with the same amount of land, less water and reduced inputs," said Lesher.
Reuters
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Processing data for sustainable agriculture in Nigeria
The issue of data collection and processing in Nigeria has always been a serious challenge due to scattered sources of information from various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of Federal and State governments specially on food and agriculture in the country.
Food and agricultural produce are essential tools to both human and nation’s economic development which is evident in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Nigeria where agriculture is contributing about 43%.
May be GDP contribution would have been improved if there had been sound statistical information for national planning through a uniform platform that will be collating and harmonizing this data in order to generate more revenue through accurate planning.
It is on record that the antecedent of data in Nigeria is at zero level and that is why most at times all the reference sources given on agricultural produce are the ones from Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of United Nations because of its more reliability and world standard scientific process it has undergone in the hands of experts.
Let it be pointed here that some of these experts used by the FAO to gathered this data are Nigerians and this shows that the country has the wherewithal to have a well sustainable data based information on food and agricultural produce in her effort to fight poverty and hunger through the food security programme and also to achieve the vision 20:2010 development goal.
Well it is a good news that Nigeria has also joined the other 17 countries of the Sub_Saharan Africa that have already started implementing the National country STAT initiated by FAO through financial support from Bill and Melinda Gate Foundation of United State of America, this may not be enough except it is well.
In the first instance at 50 years of independence why should Nigeria wait this long to have uniform platform that will process and harmonizes food and agricultural matters, a very sensitive sector of the economy. A sector that has effectively driven the economy in the 60s in all the three regions with the western states using produce from cocoa to offer free education and health to the people then.
The cocoa of the west, the groundnut/cotton pyramid of the north and palm oil of the east are three major cash crops that gave economic development to Nigeria before the arrival of crude oil. Let us also point here that what Malaysia is making in palm oil export that she came here to take in the 60s is much more than all the noise in the oil revenue generation if our dear country Nigeria can get her priority right in area of good planning for agricultural development which sound data is one of the keys.
It is appalling that since all these years, Nigeria did not deemed if fit to conduct census for all produces on food and agricultural talk less of having a sound data base that will be sustained. All these are among the thought of stakeholders at the country STAT launch in Abuja where they expressed scepticision about government sustaining the project after FAO might have removed its financial support.
Though the minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Prof. Sheikh Ahmed Abdullahi argued favourably on the need for reliable data base for efficient planning but he seems elusive in the area of sustainability and agricultural census which the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) believes is part of key ingredients to sound data.
Mr. George Oparaku, a deputy director and the head of Agriculture and Business Enterprise NBS advised that all effort should be channeled towards sustainability and argued that a base_line data would be effective through agricultural produce’s census adding that countrySTAT is a function of data produced through survey or administrative statistics which may not be broadened enough.
vanguardngr.com
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Food Agencies Warn of 'Protracted Food Crises'
United Nations food agencies say that people living in 22 countries suffer chronic hunger or difficulty finding enough to eat as a result of what they called protracted food crises.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Program (WFP) said in their new report that wars, natural disasters and poor government institutions have contributed to a continuous state of undernourishment in 22 nations. Most of these are in Africa like Somalia and Sudan but they also include Afghanistan, Haiti and Iraq.
"The food insecurity in these countries is extreme, three times more than the prevalence of hunger in other countries, in the rest of the developing world," said Kostas Stamoulis, director of the Agriculture Development Economics Division at the United Nations food agency. "About 166 million people in these countries are undernourished, close to 20 percent of the world's undernourished people, so it's huge."
For the first time the two United Nations agencies provided their definition of countries suffering protracted food crises. Stamoulis said these are countries that report a food crisis for at least eight years and receive more than 10 percent of its foreign assistance as humanitarian relief.
The 2010 study said that protracted crises can become a self-perpetuating vicious cycle and that recovery in these countries may become progressively more difficult over time.
The two U.N. agency directors, Jacques Diouf of the FAO and Josette Sheeran of the WFP said there is an urgent need for assistance in protracted crises to protect livelihoods as well as lives, because this will help put the countries on a constructive path to recovery.
The FAO said last month that the number of hungry people worldwide had dropped below the 1 billion mark to an estimated 925 million people but there continues to be no room for complacency. The drop was primarily attributable to better economic prospects in 2010 and the fall in food prices since mid-2008.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Program (WFP) said in their new report that wars, natural disasters and poor government institutions have contributed to a continuous state of undernourishment in 22 nations. Most of these are in Africa like Somalia and Sudan but they also include Afghanistan, Haiti and Iraq.
"The food insecurity in these countries is extreme, three times more than the prevalence of hunger in other countries, in the rest of the developing world," said Kostas Stamoulis, director of the Agriculture Development Economics Division at the United Nations food agency. "About 166 million people in these countries are undernourished, close to 20 percent of the world's undernourished people, so it's huge."
For the first time the two United Nations agencies provided their definition of countries suffering protracted food crises. Stamoulis said these are countries that report a food crisis for at least eight years and receive more than 10 percent of its foreign assistance as humanitarian relief.
The 2010 study said that protracted crises can become a self-perpetuating vicious cycle and that recovery in these countries may become progressively more difficult over time.
The two U.N. agency directors, Jacques Diouf of the FAO and Josette Sheeran of the WFP said there is an urgent need for assistance in protracted crises to protect livelihoods as well as lives, because this will help put the countries on a constructive path to recovery.
The FAO said last month that the number of hungry people worldwide had dropped below the 1 billion mark to an estimated 925 million people but there continues to be no room for complacency. The drop was primarily attributable to better economic prospects in 2010 and the fall in food prices since mid-2008.
VOA
Monday, September 27, 2010
FAO sees no signs of global food crisis
Put aside all speculations of a looming food crisis, A special UN meeting on about high food prices said the outlook for this year's harvests is good and cereal stocks are adequate.
Delegates at the meeting blamed the hikes on speculation, futures markets and national responses to crop failure but did not blame Russia for its export ban after a drought-caused wheat shortfall.
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They discussed a grain export ban by Russia and its impact on cereal markets, although experts said good harvests should help prevent a repeat of the price panics of a few years ago.
Russia, one of the world's largest wheat exporters, initiated the ban earlier this year to protect domestic markets. Experts from more than 75 countries discussed the ban and its impact on cereal markets.
UN officials, citing the latest crop assessments, sought to reassure governments that good harvests should help buffer countries from the violence sparked by price panics of a few years ago.
Participants at the talks agreed that "while there were no grounds for complacency, there was no indication of an impending world food crisis," said the Food and Agriculture Organization,.
A UN report released during the meeting found that while grain prices have surged in part because of the ban, the outlook for this year's harvests is good and cereal stocks are adequate. Russian grain company executives and government officials were among meeting participants.
Riots recently erupted in Mozambique over high food prices, prompting fears that a crisis, like the one of 2007-08, which sparked riots in several impoverished countries, was possible. But UN officials have stressed that the current situation is not as bad as before.
The FAO's latest assessment of grains and rice concluded that this year's cereal production, bolstered by stock from last season, should cover the world's projected needs for this year and next.
International wheat prices kept rising last month even though cereal production for this year is expected to be the third largest ever, and the global harvest was only 1 percent less than last year's, the report said.
Meeting participants concluded that "national policy responses" and speculation, not "global market fundamentals," were the main factors for the escalating prices and volatility following "unexpected crop failure in some major exporting countries."
They said root causes of the volatility included "growing linkage with outside markets, in particular the 'financialization' on future markets."
Except for North Africa, Africa in general was expected to have favorable harvest. China and India are anticipating record crops, although much of that harvest will go to feed those countries' populations.
Also helping to boost the wheat supply are good production prospects for Australia. The FAO said the latest forecast for world cereal stocks in 2011 has been revised upward to nearly 184 million tons, 3 million tons more than previously anticipated, but still down 9 percent from their eight-year high opening level.
The Ukrainian government said Friday that it would not restrict grain exports, Reuters reported. Traders have complained that Ukraine, one of the world's top grain exporters, was curbing wheat exports through lengthy customs checks since July in expectation of a poor harvest after a summer drought.
Tom Vilsack, the US secretary of agriculture, has also played down recent increases in the price of wheat, corn and other food commodities, saying the world is not on the brink of a rerun of the recent food supply crisis.
Vilsack said food stocks were at higher levels than during the 2007-08 food crisis, which saw record prices for agricultural commodities and food riots in emerging countries.
Delegates at the meeting blamed the hikes on speculation, futures markets and national responses to crop failure but did not blame Russia for its export ban after a drought-caused wheat shortfall.
Will edible oil prices continue to weaken? For latest trends and insightful analysis on India’s oilseeds market, subscribe to Commodity Online Info Service
They discussed a grain export ban by Russia and its impact on cereal markets, although experts said good harvests should help prevent a repeat of the price panics of a few years ago.
Russia, one of the world's largest wheat exporters, initiated the ban earlier this year to protect domestic markets. Experts from more than 75 countries discussed the ban and its impact on cereal markets.
UN officials, citing the latest crop assessments, sought to reassure governments that good harvests should help buffer countries from the violence sparked by price panics of a few years ago.
Participants at the talks agreed that "while there were no grounds for complacency, there was no indication of an impending world food crisis," said the Food and Agriculture Organization,.
A UN report released during the meeting found that while grain prices have surged in part because of the ban, the outlook for this year's harvests is good and cereal stocks are adequate. Russian grain company executives and government officials were among meeting participants.
Riots recently erupted in Mozambique over high food prices, prompting fears that a crisis, like the one of 2007-08, which sparked riots in several impoverished countries, was possible. But UN officials have stressed that the current situation is not as bad as before.
The FAO's latest assessment of grains and rice concluded that this year's cereal production, bolstered by stock from last season, should cover the world's projected needs for this year and next.
International wheat prices kept rising last month even though cereal production for this year is expected to be the third largest ever, and the global harvest was only 1 percent less than last year's, the report said.
Meeting participants concluded that "national policy responses" and speculation, not "global market fundamentals," were the main factors for the escalating prices and volatility following "unexpected crop failure in some major exporting countries."
They said root causes of the volatility included "growing linkage with outside markets, in particular the 'financialization' on future markets."
Except for North Africa, Africa in general was expected to have favorable harvest. China and India are anticipating record crops, although much of that harvest will go to feed those countries' populations.
Also helping to boost the wheat supply are good production prospects for Australia. The FAO said the latest forecast for world cereal stocks in 2011 has been revised upward to nearly 184 million tons, 3 million tons more than previously anticipated, but still down 9 percent from their eight-year high opening level.
The Ukrainian government said Friday that it would not restrict grain exports, Reuters reported. Traders have complained that Ukraine, one of the world's top grain exporters, was curbing wheat exports through lengthy customs checks since July in expectation of a poor harvest after a summer drought.
Tom Vilsack, the US secretary of agriculture, has also played down recent increases in the price of wheat, corn and other food commodities, saying the world is not on the brink of a rerun of the recent food supply crisis.
Vilsack said food stocks were at higher levels than during the 2007-08 food crisis, which saw record prices for agricultural commodities and food riots in emerging countries.
CommodityOnline
Friday, September 24, 2010
USAID to provide $16m for flood-hit farmers
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced that it will provide $16 million to support wheat planting, prevent further livestock losses and de-silt irrigation systems in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, one of the provinces most severely affected by floods.
The assistance, which will be provided through the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), marks the start for the organisation’s $107 million appeal in the United Nations’ Pakistan Flood Emergency Response Plan announced in New York on Friday.
The appeal came following the worst natural disaster on record in terms of farming and production losses, the FAO said on its website on Thursday.
“With this donation we will be able to rapidly purchase inputs, especially wheat seeds and fertiliser, which should help keep production going during the all-important planting season for wheat,” said Luigi Damiani, FAO’s senior official leading the efforts in Pakistan.
The funds will cover around a quarter of the total wheat seed requirements for the Rabi planting season in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The Rabi season runs from September until late October.
Wheat a staple diet
The FAO said unless the farmers receive seeds over the next month they will not be able to plant wheat, the staple diet of rural people, for a year. Although much land has been affected by the floods and cannot be planted immediately, many farmers will still be able to plant wheat on the land that is workable.
The FAO said the money will also fund cash-for-work projects to clean and repair irrigation systems and provide women farmers with much-needed vegetable seeds to boost family nutrition. The programme will also provide supplementary feed and veterinary support for livestock to prevent disease outbreaks.
More than 160,000 households will benefit from the donation, providing food security for over 1.3 million rural farming people. The programme places special emphasis on women, female-headed households and families with children under five years old, the FAO said.
The floods have left around 10 million people vulnerable to hunger, destroying food stocks, around a quarter of standing crops in flood-stricken areas and killing more than a million heads of livestock.
The Express Tribune
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Importers Fear Repeat Of 2007-8 Food Crisis-FAO Official
Sharp increases in grain prices are sparking concerns that the 2007-08 food price spike in importing nations could be repeated, an economist with the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization said Tuesday.
Abby Abbassian told Dow Jones Newswires that the surge in grain markets prices in recent days is "unlikely to recede" until next year due to a tightening of supplies in feed markets and continuing uncertainty over weather-risks.
Markets are also likely to remain high and volatile until more concrete information emerges on the progress of next season's crop plantings in Russia said Abbassian, who is also secretary to the Intergovernmental Group on Grains.
"Importing countries are getting nervous--they see some more resemblances with 2007-8," he said. "High prices will become a major problem for many countries in North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa."
European corn prices jumped to six-week highs Monday as lower yields in the U.S.--the world's largest grower and exporter of corn--sparked concerns that supply may not be able to meet growing demand from livestock farmers looking for alternative feed supplies to wheat.
"If corn remains at these high levels for the next few months this could spill into wheat and the whole group of major cereals could stay at such high levels into the spring of 2011," said Abbassian.
Surging grain prices in recent weeks have raised the specter of 2008, when record food prices sparked widespread riots from Haiti to Bangladesh. Last month, riots over a hike in the price of bread in Mozambique left seven dead and hundreds more injured.
The FAO Food Price Index averaged 176 points in August, up nearly nine points from July and its highest level since September 2008, but still 38% off its peak in June 2008.
The FAO attributed the index's rise to a jump in the cost of wheat, which has increased more than 60% since the start of July after severe drought in the Black Sea region prompted Russia, the world's third-largest wheat exporter, to ban grain exports.
Grain price increases are particularly acute for countries in the Middle East and North Africa region, which rely heavily on imports to feed their fast-growing populations. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture data, the region's wheat and corn imports jumped from 45 million tons in 1960 to 608 million in 2010 as governments responded to a tripling in the region's population in the same period.
Although officials insist the current rally is not a repeat of two years ago, as higher grain stock levels will cushion further supply shocks, Abbassian warned that further disruption to production in the Black Sea region could place severe strain on the market.
"From January onwards, every eye will be on plantings in the Black Sea," he said. "This year the CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States] countries, especially Russia, could deal with production problems.
"But if this happens again next year Russia would be thinking about importing feed. Any hint that this is likely could send prices even higher."
Monday, September 20, 2010
Commodity News Snapshot-Pakistan
KARACHI (September 20, 2010): The rupee moved both ways on currency market during the week ended on September 17, 2010. On the interbank market, the rupee showed no major change against dollar for buying and selling at 85.72 and 85.75 despite higher demand for the US currency.
KARACHI (September 20, 2010): Nearly panic lifting in cotton was marked on the very opening day of the market after Eid holidays for India's change in perception to hold back cotton exports up to October 1, 2010 - which pushed spot rate by Rs 550 higher by the close of the week on September 18-2010. The prices in ready business touched the peak of Rs 7,250.
KARACHI (September 20, 2010): The Pakistan Cotton Ginners' Association (PCGA) have released their fortnightly cotton arrival and disposal report which placed seed cotton arrivals equivalent to 1,447,596 bales, total unsold bales at 202,676 bales (14.0% of total arrivals) and fortnightly flow at 452,405 bales (Per day Average 30,160 bales).
MULTAN (September 20, 2010): FAO Country Head Mauji Damianie has said that the recent flood damages assessment report shows that in all the four provinces of Pakistan and Azad Jamu Kashmir (AJK), an area of 1,313,756 hectares of field crops was reportedly destroyed.
KARACHI (September 19, 2010): Global gold value surge continues pushing gold prices to a new peak of Rs 40,600 per tola on the local market on Saturday, a trader said. Gold trading began today after one day of markets closure, (because the city mourned the assassination of an MQM leader - Dr Imran Farooq in London) with Rs 40,550 per tola and Rs 34,757 per 10-gram on the local market.
International News
SINGAPORE (September 19, 2010): Premiums for Thai white sugar held near record levels on steady purchases from Southeast Asia, but consumers turned their back on raws as futures prices surged to a 7-month high, dealers said on Friday. There were no offers for the widely-traded high polarisation, or Hi-pol Thai raws, for prompt shipment. Trading of raw sugar for the Japanese market, or J-spec, slowed to a trickle after some cargoes were traded at record premiums last week.
LONDON (September 19, 2010): Gold prices struck record highs close to 1,300 dollars last week as investors sought alternatives to the dollar amid heightened fears about the fragile state of the US economic recovery. Gold prices hit an all-time peak of 1,282.97 dollars an ounce on Friday as the dollar waned on mounting expectations that the Federal Reserve will pump more money into the flagging US economy.
MANILA (September 19, 2010): The Philippines' unmilled rice output will be about 3.2 million tonnes below target in 2010, but stockpiles are ample and imports for 2011 will be lower than this year's record levels, the head of the national grains agency said. "There will be an expected shortfall in production of palay (unmilled rice) of about 3.2 million tonnes and the harvest is delayed," Angelito Banayo, the head of the National Food Authority (NFA) told Reuters in an interview at his office in Quezon City.
FAO official says: floods devastated crops, irrigation system, livestock
FAO Country Head Mauji Damianie has said that the recent flood damages assessment report shows that in all the four provinces of Pakistan and Azad Jamu Kashmir (AJK), an area of 1,313,756 hectares of field crops was reportedly destroyed.
In terms of losses of the crops cultivated, Punjab was the worst-hit (661 637 hectares) followed by Sindh (357,372 hectares), KP (191,020 hectares) and AJK (92,370 hectares).
Addressing the representatives of the nation-building departments and NGOs here at the Circuit House along-with Angus Graham chief agriculture cluster, Damianie said Preliminary Rapid Damage Assessment report revealed that field crops were hit hard by the floods, with cotton, sugarcane, fodder crops and rice being the worst affected crops of the current Kharif season.
The affected communities also suffered heavy losses in livestock and irrigation infrastructure, which are of paramount importance for the livelihoods of the predominantly agrarian flood-affected communities.
The report also encompasses community prioritisation for immediate emergency and relief interventions and a proposed action plan stipulated on a time scale of immediate, short, medium and long terms bases.
Out of total 415,905 hectares surveyed cotton crop fields, at-least 315,769 hectares was affected in Punjab, 99,930 hectares in Sindh and 206 in the KPK. Total area of cotton crop in 11 surveyed districts of Punjab is 1,520,817 hectares and, in 9 districts of Sindh, the area is 28,060 hectares.
Damianie said cotton is the main cash and industrial crop of south Punjab and Sindh, besides being a major crop for earning foreign exchange by exporting the raw and finished cotton fibre to the international market. The cotton crop was at a critical stage of reproductive growth ie boll formation. Cotton growers suffered enormous losses in terms of losing the cotton crop at a very critical stage of production eg Larkana suffered 98 percent loss of the crop.
In terms of losses of the crops cultivated, Punjab was the worst-hit (661 637 hectares) followed by Sindh (357,372 hectares), KP (191,020 hectares) and AJK (92,370 hectares).
Addressing the representatives of the nation-building departments and NGOs here at the Circuit House along-with Angus Graham chief agriculture cluster, Damianie said Preliminary Rapid Damage Assessment report revealed that field crops were hit hard by the floods, with cotton, sugarcane, fodder crops and rice being the worst affected crops of the current Kharif season.
The affected communities also suffered heavy losses in livestock and irrigation infrastructure, which are of paramount importance for the livelihoods of the predominantly agrarian flood-affected communities.
The report also encompasses community prioritisation for immediate emergency and relief interventions and a proposed action plan stipulated on a time scale of immediate, short, medium and long terms bases.
Out of total 415,905 hectares surveyed cotton crop fields, at-least 315,769 hectares was affected in Punjab, 99,930 hectares in Sindh and 206 in the KPK. Total area of cotton crop in 11 surveyed districts of Punjab is 1,520,817 hectares and, in 9 districts of Sindh, the area is 28,060 hectares.
Damianie said cotton is the main cash and industrial crop of south Punjab and Sindh, besides being a major crop for earning foreign exchange by exporting the raw and finished cotton fibre to the international market. The cotton crop was at a critical stage of reproductive growth ie boll formation. Cotton growers suffered enormous losses in terms of losing the cotton crop at a very critical stage of production eg Larkana suffered 98 percent loss of the crop.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Donors' response to Pakistan agricultural needs very low: FAO
UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has said that so far donor response to Pakistan's agricultural needs after the devastating flood has been very low. Only 35 percent (2 million dollars) of initial funding requirement have been met under the Pakistan Initial Floods Emergency Response Plan (PIFERP).
FAO is reaching approximately 1,50,000 families with agricultural inputs and 50,000 households with emergency livestock assistance in flood affected districts across the country. It said with additional funding of 30 million dollars FAO could assist a further 2,50,000 families with wheat seeds and help keep at least 1,00,000 families' livestock alive over the coming winter.
In its Executive Brief on Pakistan Flooding, as on September 1, 2010 FAO said approximately four out of five people in the flood affected areas depend on agriculture for their livelihood. One of the greatest challenges on the ground is helping farmers to recover their land in time for wheat planting beginning in September/October and to prevent further livestock losses.
The UN organisation said across the country millions of people their entire means to sustain themselves in the immediate and longer-term, owing to the destruction/damage of standing crops and means of agricultural production (eg seed stocks, irrigation, livestock, farmland)
The latest cumulative estimates are as follows:
(a) The agriculture cluster rapid damage assessments, completed in half of all flood-affected districts found that 1.3 million hectares of standing crops have been damaged.
(b) Countrywide damage to millions of hectares of cultivatable land, including standing crops (eg rice, maize, cotton, sugarcane, orchards and vegetables) likely.
(c) Loss of 0.5 to 06 million tons of wheat stock needed for the wheat-planting season.
(d) Death of 1.2 million large and small animals and 6 million poultry.
FAO said while the full extent of the damage still cannot be quantified and assessments are ongoing, the direct and future losses are likely to affect millions of people at household level, as well as impact national productive capacity for staple crops, such as wheat and rice. Response to needs in the agriculture sector cannot be underestimated nor delayed.
Wheat planting season: FAO said if wheat seeds, fertilisers and farming tools are not provided rapidly, many farmers will miss this year's wheat planting season, beginning in September/October and may not be able to harvest wheat again until spring 2012.
It further stated that extensive water logging, silt deposits and damage to irrigation structures mean that work must start now to clear and prepare the soil for planting and to repair water systems for upcoming planting seasons. This planting season is vital as wheat is Pakistan's main staple crop, accounts for two thirds of national cereal production (planted on 9.5 million hectors in 2009 yielding 24.5 million tons) and provides 60 percent of the carbohydrate and protein requirement for an average Pakistani.
Saving remaining livestock, FAO said it is also concerned with preventing the further loss of livestock, which represent an immediate source of food, income, draught power and very often the savings of a lifetime. Without emergency, dewormers and veterinary supplies animals will die in large numbers, it warned.
FAO is reaching approximately 1,50,000 families with agricultural inputs and 50,000 households with emergency livestock assistance in flood affected districts across the country. It said with additional funding of 30 million dollars FAO could assist a further 2,50,000 families with wheat seeds and help keep at least 1,00,000 families' livestock alive over the coming winter.
In its Executive Brief on Pakistan Flooding, as on September 1, 2010 FAO said approximately four out of five people in the flood affected areas depend on agriculture for their livelihood. One of the greatest challenges on the ground is helping farmers to recover their land in time for wheat planting beginning in September/October and to prevent further livestock losses.
The UN organisation said across the country millions of people their entire means to sustain themselves in the immediate and longer-term, owing to the destruction/damage of standing crops and means of agricultural production (eg seed stocks, irrigation, livestock, farmland)
The latest cumulative estimates are as follows:
(a) The agriculture cluster rapid damage assessments, completed in half of all flood-affected districts found that 1.3 million hectares of standing crops have been damaged.
(b) Countrywide damage to millions of hectares of cultivatable land, including standing crops (eg rice, maize, cotton, sugarcane, orchards and vegetables) likely.
(c) Loss of 0.5 to 06 million tons of wheat stock needed for the wheat-planting season.
(d) Death of 1.2 million large and small animals and 6 million poultry.
FAO said while the full extent of the damage still cannot be quantified and assessments are ongoing, the direct and future losses are likely to affect millions of people at household level, as well as impact national productive capacity for staple crops, such as wheat and rice. Response to needs in the agriculture sector cannot be underestimated nor delayed.
Wheat planting season: FAO said if wheat seeds, fertilisers and farming tools are not provided rapidly, many farmers will miss this year's wheat planting season, beginning in September/October and may not be able to harvest wheat again until spring 2012.
It further stated that extensive water logging, silt deposits and damage to irrigation structures mean that work must start now to clear and prepare the soil for planting and to repair water systems for upcoming planting seasons. This planting season is vital as wheat is Pakistan's main staple crop, accounts for two thirds of national cereal production (planted on 9.5 million hectors in 2009 yielding 24.5 million tons) and provides 60 percent of the carbohydrate and protein requirement for an average Pakistani.
Saving remaining livestock, FAO said it is also concerned with preventing the further loss of livestock, which represent an immediate source of food, income, draught power and very often the savings of a lifetime. Without emergency, dewormers and veterinary supplies animals will die in large numbers, it warned.
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