Pakistan floods affect 1 mln hectare cultivated land
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Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said the devastated floods have affected 2.6 million acres (about 1 million hectares) of cultivated land with a crop loss of some 2.35 billion U.S. dollars.
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Flood refugees go through waterlogged road near Muzaffargarh, south Pakistan's Punjab Province, Aug. 23, 2010. [Lui Siu Wai/Xinhua] |
![Flood refugees go through waterlogged road near Muzaffargarh, south Pakistan's Punjab Province, Aug. 23, 2010. [Lui Siu Wai/Xinhua]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20100827/000cf1bdd03f0de1516c09.jpg "Flood refugees go through waterlogged road near Muzaffargarh, south Pakistan's Punjab Province, Aug. 23, 2010. [Lui Siu Wai/Xinhua]")
Addressing a meeting of the banking sector, Zardari said the country has to face great human and infrastructure losses due to the current unprecedented floods and around 75 districts have been affected with a population of 15 million.
He said a scheme should be devised to provide relief to the existing borrowers of devastated areas and at the same time make provision for fresh financing for the revival of economic activities.
The agriculture and housing were the most seriously impacted areas and the banks were saddled with the social responsibility of pressing into service their professional skills for addressing the issues in these two sectors, the president said.
He said that the government will provide free seed to farmers to grow canola early next month in the flood-affected areas and also distribute the first installment of 5000 rupees (about 59 dollars) of the relief assistance per family before the Eid festival.
These are also the areas in which the banks can play a positive and constructive role for speedy implementation, he said.
Zardari called upon the country's banking and finance sector to use their influence in the areas of their operations and actively participate in the flood relief and rehabilitation efforts by sensitizing the people and state agencies to the colossal damage and the ways to recover the lost ground.
"While we hope that the worst floods were caused by freak weather and will not recur, we should also keep in mind that it may have been caused by climatic change and have to brace ourselves for such disasters in the future as well," he said.
The president said that the banks should provide necessary financial services to farmers and small business to help them restore their businesses and urged them to play a role in the revival of economic activities in the devastated areas, according to presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar.
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