The food security of millions of Pakistanis is at risk unless aid is received to save the upcoming wheat-planting season, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned on Wednesday. Wheat-based flat bread is the main food for the rural poor in Pakistan, and planting is set to start this month, but more than half a million tons of wheat seed stocks have been destroyed by the recent floods. “Food aid alone will not be enough,” said Daniele Donati of the FAO's emergency operations in Asia. “Unless people get seeds over the next few weeks, they will not be able to plant wheat for a year.” In some areas of Pakistan, the fertile top layer of soil has been washed away, making planting impossible, while in some other regions, land is waterlogged or covered in silt. But “in many areas, it will be possible to plant as soon as the water recedes,” Donati said. However, he warned that the “window of opportunity is closing” since the planting season ends in mid-November. So far, the FAO has enough seeds for 200,000 farming families and hopes that additional resources will allow the agency to provide seeds for double that number. Early estimates indicated that 3.6 million hectares of maize, rice, sugar cane, and cotton crops have been destroyed in the floods. Additionally, 1.2 million livestock and 6 million poultry were lost in the heavy rains, and it is expected that more than 1 million buffalo, cattle, sheep and goats owned by people living in flooded areas are in danger of starvation unless they receive animal feed.
