v Rains have hit 21 districts of Sindh, but nine of them are highly affected: Badin, Mirpurkhas, Tharparkar, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allahyar, Matiari, Umerkot, Sanghar and Benazirabad.

v More than 500 villages of Badin alone were affected. “All crops and fisheries were washed away.

v Livestock is considered as a secure source of income for small farmers and landless poor. According to the latest Economic Survey of Pakistan livestock is the best hope for poverty alleviation as it can improve the socioeconomic conditions of our rural masses. The livestock accounted for approximately 55.1% of the agriculture value added and 11.5 percent to GDP during 2010-11.

v Poultry sector generates employment and income for about 1.5 million people. Its contribution in agriculture value addition is 4.8 percent and livestock’s value addition is 9.8 percent.
Poultry meat contributes 24.8 percent to the total meat production in the country. The current investment in poultry industry is about Rs200 billion. Poultry sector has shown a robust growth of 8-10 percent annually, which reflects its potential.

v Poultry Development Policy revolves around improving regulatory framework; disease control and genetic improvement in rural poultry; hi-tech poultry production under environmentally-controlled housing; processing and value addition; improving bio-security; need-based research and development and farmers’ training and education. It envisages poultry sector’s growth of 15-20 percent per annum.

v Thirteen districts in Sindh saw more than 67 per cent of their food stocks destroyed and 30 per cent of children in Sindh are suffering from severe malnutrition.

v As 73 percent of crops and 67 percent of food stocks have been lost

v “Millions of people are destitute and face an uncertain and food-insecure future

v At least five million animals are at risk because they lack feed and shelter and are exposed to diseases

v Sindh has the highest malnutrition rate in the country with 22.9 per cent of population in the northern part of the province and 21.2 per cent in the south facing the problem. The rate is well above the World Health Organization’s 15 per cent emergency threshold which triggers a humanitarian response.

v 2010 flood affected more than 20 million people and in the immediate aftermath of the natural disaster, malnutrition was identified as one of the key problems and infant feeding practices were assessed as having suffered directly from the catastrophe

v The results showed that about 42pc of the households were food secure while the remaining 58pc were food insecure

v The proportion of food insecure household was categorized as food insecure without hunger (28.4pc), food insecure with moderate hunger (19.8pc) and food insecure with severe hunger (9.8pc).

v Hemoglobin deficient Of them, 60.2pc belonged to Sindh, followed by 49.7pc

v Vitamin D deficiency It was also found that there was a widespread deficiency of Vitamin D in Pakistan`s non-pregnant mothers (85pc) and 90.5 per cent of them lived in Sindh.

v Also of the 86.1pc pregnant women with Vitamin D deficiency at the national level, Sindh had 84.6 per cent.

v Discussing the prevalence of malnutrition among children, the latest report said that against the rate of 43pc stunting at national level, Sindh had 70pc rate.

v Against the national level rate of anemic children62.1pc, Sindh had 73.3pc of sample children anemic, with severe or moderate deficiency of hemoglobin level.

v Rate of underweight children had dropped in comparison to the survey of 2001-02 but there was still much needed to be done to make up the zinc and vitamin deficiencies in Pakistan in general and Sindh children in specific.

v Based on farmers estimates of losses gathered during the assessment survey, cotton has been the most affected crop (with 92% of production lost in some areas), with 81% of sugarcane production also lost in the flooded areas. Additionally, 57.4% of affected families reported losses of livestock either through death of animals or having to sell on animals for cash to support themselves during the crisis.

v Furthermore, 40% of households reported that their main economic activity has been discontinued, whilst 48% reported economic activities disrupted.

v On food security 21 56,808,926 budget estimated for 21 projects in ERF 47% gap

Over View of the Situation

The Rain flood affected another 7.4 million people this year, while twenty million people are still struggling to cope with the devastation caused by last year’s calamity. While the aid response is less than last year, the misery for those affected is just as real and the repercussions will be much greater. Millions who were already displaced have once again lost their livelihoods, crops and livestock and now thousands of men, women and children face the same reality.

Heavy monsoon rains caused widespread damage to over a million acres of land, primarily in the southern province of Sindh. Badin is the worst affected district in the Sindh, with over 6000 villages under water. Other calamity-hit districts include Benazirabad, Mirpurkhas, Tando Muhammad Khan, TandoAllahyar, Umerkot, Sanghar and Tharpakar. The floods began early last month but torrential rainfall compounded them, cutting off many villages and making them inaccessible to government and relief workers.

To date, 23 districts of Sindh have been severely affected by flooding, inundating million acres of land including 1.7 million acres of agricultural land, resulting in the destruction of 80 percent of cash crops and over 130 billion rupees in losses. 80 percent of banana, dates, chili, sugar cane and especially cotton crop (equivalent of 2.3 million bales) have been destroyed) 1.2 million homes have been destroyed and victims have lost over 120,000 cattle due to diseases caused by the floods. Hundreds of thousands more livestock and poultry are at risk as water-borne diseases multiply. To make matters worse, the livestock that has survived might die of starvation as fodder has been washed away. The fate of poultry and fish farms has been similar, dealing another severe blow to thousands of livelihoods. That in turn may give rise to massive food shortage and food insecurity and the amount of time it will take to regain use of agricultural land will cost the economy greatly.

Despite several warnings from aid agencies about the possibility of floods this year, the Pakistani government was confident that they were prepared and were capable of handing the situation without the United Nations (UN) and other international organizations. As heavy rains struck Sindh in early August, the chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Zafar Iqbal Qadir insisted the organization had the resources to manage the floods and therefore did not require international assistance. Since donors sent funds directly to international organizations, the government appeared unaware of where the money was spent. Although the international community pledged a total of $1.9 billion dollars for the 2010 floods, 67% of this amount ($1.3 billion) was released and only $400 million has been accounted for in documentation. Therefore, government agencies felt that they should not rely on international assistance. However, donors are unimpressed with the government’s aid appeal in a context where the elite is seen to evade taxes and money is spent on other ‘populist’ programs.

It is apparent that both the government and international agencies faced transparency and accountability challenges that curbed relief and rehabilitation efforts last year. Other factors, including the socio-political and economic volatility in the country also had a negative impact. The government was not prepared to deal with such a disaster due to an inadequate disaster management system, poor emergency relief coordination and overlapping mandates of different organisations. A disaster management framework and policies were already in place but was important to transform them into effective management systems that could be implemented at the community level. In addition, clarity on the roles and responsibilities of government officials at the district, provincial and federal levels was urged by international agencies working on the ground who felt it would help prevent duplication in relief projects.

Despite last year’s hurdles, the NDMA claimed to have a contingency plan for floods this year and yet were unable to organize efforts for the 750,000 people who became displaced after initial rains. Meanwhile, UN agencies remained on standby until the President’s visit to flood-hit areas.when the UN and other agencies were asked to intervene. Nearly three weeks after the initial floods, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani appealed to the international community and to philanthropists at home and abroad to step forward and help the government rescue and rehabilitate flood victims. China, Iran and the U.S pledged assistance but more international assistance were needed given the country’s domestic fiscal crunch.

The NDMA has already spent over 1.5 billion rupees on relief efforts and this number was to increase to 8 billion. To date, 2,611 relief camps were set up by the NDMA that accommodate 544,611 men, women and children. Thousands of tents and food ration packs were being distributed by the government and the UN has also begun its multi-million dollar humanitarian assistance program in Sindh along with other International organizations helping the government focus on issues related to health, hygiene, food security and water and sanitation as well as assisting with the distribution of emergency relief goods.

The government’s appeal for foreign aid was slammed by opposition parties who felt the government should utilize its own resources to cope with the floods instead of depending on aid. However, they did not explain where the government would mobilize such emergency resources from domestically. The parties also condemned the government’s inability to adequately prepare for the floods and urged the ruling party to devise a strategy for the rehabilitation of the victims. Such statements assume that the government has the capacity and capability to deal with such situations yet when the first wave of floods hit, there was a realization by government authorities that the situation was out of their control.

According to a statement issued by the NDMA, health, education and communication infrastructure has been substantially damaged in Sindh. 1.1 million Houses have been destroyed, with nearly half a million in Badin alone. This does not include damage caused by the floods last year. One is forced to question whether the scale of the destruction could have been averted if the government had genuinely prepared for flooding this year. For instance, in low-lying parts of the world where flooding is routine, people build their homes on stilts or on large rafts moored securely to the shore. As the water rises, the home rises with it and when it recedes, the houses move back to the ground, making them more resilient to disasters like floods. This has been done in neighboring countries like Bangladesh. It is a fairly “low tech”option that does not require heavy investment as houses can be made from straw, reeds, rushes, bamboos or jute-stalks

The floods have already claimed over 490 lives, many of them women and children. The outbreak of disease along with food shortages means that the number of lives lost due to flooding is likely to increase.

Current Situation

Food security refers to the availability of food and one's access to it. A household is considered food-secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social ^[ and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.

Due to unusual heavy rain the Standing crops suffered the most severe damage and losses from the flooding. This Rain situation impacted badly on already tenuous food security and recovery capacity of households. Based on the assessment analysis, 257,000 households were found to be severely food insecure, while 245,000 HH are facing moderate food insecurity as a result of the flood situation. According to gender-disaggregated data, 21,500 flood-affected female-headed households are severely food insecure and 12,000 are moderately food insecure.

Due to water-logging in cultivated areas, crop yields were heavily damaged and substantial losses incurred on farmers. In the worst affected areas, almost the entire production of cash and food crops was lost just before the harvest. Based on farmers estimates of losses, gathered during the assessment survey, cotton has been the most affected crop (with 92% of production lost in some areas) and 81% of sugarcane production in the flooded area has been irremediably compromised. High losses were also reported for food crops: paddy (76%), pulses (81%), maize (78%) and vegetables (over 90%). Districts that suffered the highest levels of agricultural damages and losses include Mirpurkhas, Tharparkar, Umerkot and Sanghar.

As a result of crop losses and damages to agricultural land, households relying on casual daily wage labor have lost a significant part of their income, as cotton picking and rice and sugarcane harvesting is their main income activity throughout the year, representing on average 300 person-days of wages per family. It is estimated that at least 69,792 (more than 40%) casual wage labor households depending on agricultural activities are severely food insecure. Also, 237,209 families have lost their primary source of income entirely and 284,651 HH partially, of which 427,925 HH are farm-based [farming, livestock and on-farm casual labor]. From a gender perspective, it should be underlined that 73% of women in rural areas are economically active; within agricultural households, 25 % of fulltime workers (defined as one who does only agricultural work) and 75% of part-time workers are women, and the impact of the floods on their livelihoods is significant.

Productive infrastructure has also been severely damaged by the floods. According to the assessment report, in flood affected areas of Sindh 29% of watercourses have been damaged. The livestock sector has incurred significant losses in terms of mortality and distress sales. Animal losses severely compromise the recovery capacity of rural families as large and small livestock represent the savings account of rural families and poultry is an easy way to get cash. Such losses have impacted severely the livelihoods of the flood-affected rural population.

A high percentage (up to 90%) of agricultural assets such as tools, machinery, and equipment or fishing gear have been damaged or partially /totally lost. At household level, losses have been estimated at an average of PKR 7,500 (US$ 84) for agricultural tools, PKR 54,000 (US$ 603) for farm machinery/equipment and PKR 26,000 (US$ 290) for fishing gear and equipment have been reported as loss per household on average.

The Food Security Cluster proposes interventions for the Provision of agricultural tools and equipment to farmers/sharecroppers, Rehabilitation of farm land and distribution of high quality seeds, fertilizer and fodder, Rehabilitation of damaged infrastructure (e.g. repair and cleaning of irrigation systems, restoration of field roads, and to provide the technical support to the beneficiary population.

With regard to the Data collected from the Agriculture department of Sindh 55 thousands metric tons of Wheat seeds have been distributed to the 17 districts. The criterion of the government for the beneficiary is to be the land holder of maximum 25 acres or lesser than 25 acres and where as identification of the beneficiary was made by the district revenue department. It is surprised to know that in the situation where food security has turned into malnourishment and hunger the government could not identify the agriculture caseloads at district level.

Findings of District consultations/FGDs

Through district consultations and FGDs in highly hit eight districts and study of the reports it was known that due to the grave damages to the economy and sources of income as cash and food crops such as cotton, sugarcane and rice, onion, maize, chili etc. Thousands of the animals were either died due the deceases or sold due to the fear of diseases or emergency in meager amount. Poultry also suffered caused monetary losses to the flood affected peoples.

It was found that government at districts level has not yet prepared or drafted district profiles with regard to the damages in agriculture, livestock and poultry. Yet since seven months dewatering process is continuing and emergency relief phase suffered the humanitarian funding gap 52%. Vulnerability assessment for the identification of the most vulnerable as women headed households, elderly, disable and chronic ill so that timely can be responded to address the urgent life saving needs of the flood affected peoples.

Damages and Response Scenarios

Table-1: Primary and Secondary sources of highly hit eight districts of the Sindh.

S#	District	Needs					Gaps
S#	District	Crop areas affected (Acres)	Cotton	Rice	Sugarcane	Overall Damage	Crop Acres	%
1	Badin	375,718	100%	83%	43%	38%	112,114	30%
2	Mirpurkhas	171,522	100%	100%	70%	21%	68356	40%
3	Shaheed Benazirabad	512,000	85%	40%	30%	51%	132,875	26%
4	Tando Allahyar	113,233	91%	59%	25%	66%	57938	51%
5	Tando Muhammad Khan	136071	97%	68%	32%	65%	52,132	38%
6	Tharparkar	10,805	US	US	US	US	7532	70
7	Umerkot	108,303	100%	0%	70%	98%	78,233	72%
8	Sanghar	356,473	95%	50%	50%	49%	115062	32%
Total		1,784,125	80%	65%	48%	78%	624,242	35%

Cotton crop is predominantly sown in southern Sindh of the Pakistan. In Sindh due to the large volumes of water cotton crop was damaged in rain affected districts of the Sindh. The farmers were able to carry out one out of five pickings prior to rains around august 11, 2011. This constituted 20% of the crop picked. The rains have badly affected the quality of the phutti (Seed cotton) and have discounted prices for the low quality cotton. The extent of damage is estimated about 2.239 million balles.

Table-2: Loss of animals

S#	District	Animals head Perished	Animal Sold or Lost
1	Badin	10060	27345
2	Mirpurkhas	12,280	28,614
3	Shaheed Benazirabad	22,646	32,184
4	Tando Allahyar	197	21546
5	Tando Muhammad Khan	187	24651
6	Tharparkar	30632	18321
7	Umerkot	18,824	22,158
8	Sanghar	19040	19654
Total		113866	194473

According to the report due to rain flood 2011 livestock amounting 113,866 died and 194,443 sold due to the diseases and lack of animal fodder in highly hit eight districts namely Mirpurkhas, Umerkot, Sanghar, TandoAllahyar, Tando Muhammad Khan, Badin, Shaheed Benazirabad and Tharparkar. District Tharparkar is Arid Zone, the main source of income is livestock for majority of the households where as more than 30,623 cattle heads perished.

Highlighting the importance of the livestock in food security it was added that livestock is a secure source of income for small farmers and landless poor. According the latest Economic survey of Pakistan livestock accounted for approximately 55.1% of the agriculture value and is the best hope for poverty alleviation where as currently at least five million animals are at risk because they lack feed and shelter and are exposed to diseases. 120,000 animals have been reported perished in thirteen rain flood affected districts of the Sindh. At least five million animals are at risk because they lack feed and shelter and are exposed to diseases.

Table-3: Mall Nourishment Status of children and lactating women


Moderate Acute	Sever Acute	Pregnant & lactating women
23378	14155	21447
16,141	9773	14808
20601	12474	18900
8516	5157	7813
13400	8114	12294
28546	25645	32654
18,806	11387	17253
28325	17151	25986
157713	103856	151155

The situation is getting day by day deteriorating and due to the lack of agriculture inputs supports for Wheat, Delayed dewatering ,lack of humanitarian funding and comprehensive planning flood affected peoples are getting converted from food insecure to malnourished and hunger stricken peoples. The relief services are almost closed from the rain affected districts and during the emergency relief services distant areas were not reached as per feedback of during the focus discussion groups and district consultations workshops.

Recommendations

v Early Recovery Framework should focus on contributing to the restoration of disrupted livelihood and rehabilitation of damaged productive infrastructure for severely and moderately food insecure population groups.

v Priority and emphasis should be given to the involvement of women, which is traditionally part of the agriculture labor workforce. A gender-sensitive participatory approach should be followed as the female-headed households, widows and women with small children are more food insecure and vulnerable. Focus should also be placed on traditionally marginalized groups, with particular attention given to the food-insecure population living in areas with slow water recession.

v Safeguards should be built into the implementation modalities to ensure that traditionally marginalized groups have equal access to the given assistance.

v Rehabilitation of productive infrastructure through cash-for-work and food-for-work:

v Repair of damaged irrigation systems will be crucial to accelerate the recovery of affected communities particularly. Food-for-work or cash-for-work methodologies will be adopted as they prove to be effective for immediate source of income for the target beneficiary population as well as support increasing agriculture production in the medium term and long term. Such interventions are designed to address income losses and limit negative coping strategies (e.g. increasing household debt) will be targeted at the severely food-insecure population groups with limited income options.

v Interventions should be prioritized to include a Disaster Risk Reduction component, as activities such as the repair of community level channels and drains reduce the likelihood of future flooding.

v The participation of women and other vulnerable groups in decision-making and planning should be supported and is a critical part of the response.

v Among the most food-insecure livelihood groups (fisher communities and pastoralists), interventions should be focused on preserving livelihood assets and restoring productive capacities. Livestock assets represent an essential source of income and food for most of the rural population and are crucial during land preparation as animal traction. The availability of animal products (milk, ghee, etc.) is particularly important for pregnant women and children under five years of age for nutrition.

v Protection of livestock assets through the provision of feed, fodder and veterinary support (e.g. de-worming) would contribute to sustaining food security at household level.

v Provision of agriculture support and rehabilitation of productive infrastructures for the production of Kharif season. Support should be provided to the farmers with inputs and equipments to maximize the production of Kharif crops.

v Support to the livestock and poultry sub-sector should also be focused. The beneficiary households will receive fodder cultivation support, but also receive support for livestock restocking (particularly for poultry).

v Minority livelihood groups (e.g. fisher communities) should also be supported through the rehabilitation of household-level aquaculture activities, and provision of fishing gear and related equipment.

v Private sector-led development with public sector providing enabling environment through policy interventions and capacity building for improved livestock husbandry practices.

v The emphasis should be on improving per unit animal productivity and moving from subsistence to commercial livestock farming in the country to meet the domestic demand and export the surplus.

v Exploit the potentials of livestock sector and use it as engine for economic growth and food security for the country leading to rural population empowerment and socioeconomic development.

v 35-40 million are dependent on livestock in the country.

v Poultry sector generates employment and income for about 1.5 million people. Its contribution in agriculture value addition is 4.8 percent and livestock’s value addition is 9.8 percent.

v The situation, according to an expert, is alarming and calls for an enhanced national awareness and well designed interventions to reduce widespread malnutrition and poor dietary practices particularly among women and children in Sindh.

Peoples Accountability Commission on Floods (PACF)

15th CSFSR

Data Sources

Primary Data

Secondary Data

Background

Highlights

Over View of the Situation

Current Situation

Findings of District consultations/FGDs

Damages and Response Scenarios

Recommendations

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