PESHAWAR: The low rainfall is changing Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (KP) cropping pattern as the cultivation of maize, sugarcane, rice and wheat has declined as farmers are growing more vegetables and fruits, said a recent survey of Climate Change Center of University of Agriculture, Peshawar.
The survey said that delay in winter rains and rising temperature has changed the traditional methods of agriculture. The research show that humidity in central and southern districts and delay in winter rains has led to decreased in wheat cultivation while in Lakki Marwat, Nowshera and Lower Dir maize cultivation has reduced.
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“Maize production has also declined in Abbottabad, Mansehra and Shangla districts due to severe weather and insects’ attacks,” said the survey report. The rice is being cultivated in Upper Dir and Shangla but in other districts vegetables, maize, tobacco, chukandar and sugarcane are being cultivated in place of rice.”
The survey furthered that with the help of technology, cultivation of vegetables in Nowshera, Mardan and Buner and fruits in Mansehra, Upper Dir, Lower Dir and Abbottabad especially peaches is increasing. In comparison, the production of malt, apples, pears have declined due to insects and lack of required moisture. In Mardan, Nowshera and Bannu, watermelon, strawberry and melon cultivation has been adopted as an alternative, especially in Bannu and Lakki Marwat, there has been increase in melon and guava cultivation.
Talking the climate change impacts on the province, the Vice-Chancellor of University of Agriculture, Professor Dr Jan Bakht told Mashriq that the eco-system has changed which has led to increase in temperature. He informed that Pakistan is among the top six countries worst affected by the climate change and there has been no rain in Peshawar for the last one year, which has led to increase in respiratory diseases.
“We have to reduce environmental pollution to contain the impacts of climate change, Dr Bakht said. He added that the pollution level should be 25microgram per cubic meter but in Pakistan, especially in Lahore and Peshawar, it was more than 300 per cubic meter, recently. Bakht said that forest cover in Pakistan is just 5.5% which should be at least 31% to keep protecting the environment. He said that the PTI government has played an important role in planting trees which has increased forest cover by 20%.
Bakht said that in the last 100 years, the water use has increased by sixth time in Peshawar which has led to decline in water table. He said that the water crisis will be worsening further in coming years if preventive measures were not taken to stop its wastage. Dr Bakht warned against food shortage, if the province did not receive sufficient among of rains as it has direct negative impacts on agriculture sector. He informed that the government is working on the state-of-art climate change center in KP to produce climate changes resisting seeds.