Pakistan’s cotton import bill may cost billions of dollars this year, said the cotton sector experts. According to these circles, “Last year, Pakistan’s cotton imports went up by 32pc, costing the country over a billion dollars. It may be much higher this year as the cost of flood rolls out.”
Pakistan had fixed a target of 1.1m bales. Take 30-40pc off and it may come down to about 7.5m bales. In Punjab, officials think that floods may cost 500,000 to 600,000 bales but the farmers’ calculations are much higher.
Beyond the standing crops, the implementation loss, which no one has calculated so far, would be equally damaging in near future. From tractors to harvesters, everything has remained in the water for weeks, if not swept away. All these machine implements now need a major overhaul if they are not to be completely lost. Most of the hand implements (shovels, spades, hoes and trowels) have been lost to water.
The metrological pundits have calculated the disaster that fell from the sky and claim that it rained 287 per cent more than what is considered to be normal: 375 millimeters against the last 30-year average of 130 millimeters. It caused massive flash floods, running down from hills and sweeping everything away on their way to water streams.
After wreaking disaster on their route, these torrents hit main streams, added to their fury and broke their banks before joining rivers. The rivers, brimming to the brinks already, could not take this extra pressure and spread water to thousands of acres along their banks, and beyond. In the end, it turned out to be a national catastrophe, which lacked parallel in the recent history of the country.
