Cloudburst, rains devastate 31,596 acres of farmland in KP: report

• KP’s Agriculture Department releases initial data, showing Buner suffered heaviest damages, with 26,141 acres affected
• Expert emphasizes crisis reflects the need for adaptation in farming practices

PESHAWAR:Climate change-triggered torrential rains and cloudburst have destroyed 31,596 acres of farmland in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), wiping out standing crops and causing financial losses to the tune of billions of rupees.

The provincial agriculture department has released initial data on losses, confirming the extent of the destruction caused by the recent cloudbursts and floods. The report shows that Buner suffered the heaviest damage, with 26,141 acres affected.

Of this, 23,487 acres of maize fields, 1,300 acres of rice, 700 acres of vegetables, and 641 acres of orchards were completely lost. In Lower Swat, crops across 2,702 acres were destroyed, including 729 acres of maize, 1,209 acres of rice, 334 acres of vegetables, 362 acres of orchards and 68 acres of other farmland.

Elsewhere, the damage extended across the province: 3.25 acres in Battagram, 214 acres in Bajaur, 87 acres in Charsadda, 617 acres in Lower Dir, 88 acres in Mansehra, 130 acres in Nowshera, 520 acres in Shangla, 1,035 acres in Swat, two acres in Upper Swat, and 55 acres in Upper Chitral.

Commenting on the climate change-triggered devastation, journalist and climate change researcher Dawood Khan said the crisis reflects the need for adaptation in farming practices. He argued that spring crops vulnerable to hailstorms and heavy rainfall should be replaced with alternative crops better suited to the changing climate. “Scientific methods exist to protect agriculture,” he said, pointing to systems adopted in China, Japan and India. “They have introduced shade structures to shield crops from storms and hail, but in Pakistan farmers are too poor to afford even fertiliser, let alone advanced technology.”

He recalled that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) had once initiated work on such systems, but the project collapsed after funding cuts from Washington. “The agriculture department does not have the resources to carry this forward,” he said.

According to Khan, global agricultural practices have been shifting for two decades under the Agro-Tech model, with countries cultivating crops in proportion to their population’s needs. He warned that poor planning in Pakistan had already led to losses in the tobacco sector, where bumper production this year meant buyers offered farmers less than the official government price.

He urged authorities and farmers in northern KP to alter planting schedules. “Like in the rest of the world, we must change crop cycles so they mature before the monsoon rains and hailstorms,” he said. “This will reduce the scale of losses.”

The provincial agriculture department acknowledged that climate change is driving the destruction and said efforts are underway to develop faster-growing varieties. Officials explained that vegetables that previously required 120 days to mature are being replaced with 100-day varieties so crops are ready before the rains. “We are bringing in new varieties that can withstand heat and heavy rainfall, so the damage is minimised,” an official said.

Currently, five lakh acres of land in the province are used for vegetable cultivation. But installing protective shade systems across such a vast area would cost billions of rupees, the department said. The cost of setting up shade for one acre alone is estimated at 2.2 million rupees, a figure far beyond the government’s capacity. With the required material imported, the department suggested that eliminating taxes on raw imports could make it affordable for farmers.

While local media widely described the recent disasters as cloudbursts, the meteorological department clarified that the devastation was not caused by a single phenomenon. Officials said unusually heavy rains combined with lightning, known locally as thandar, triggered the losses in Buner, Swat, Bajaur, Swabi, Shangla and other districts.

The agriculture department concluded that unless Pakistan adapts its crops, techniques, and planting schedules to climate change, thousands of acres will continue to fall victim to extreme weather each year.