“We Have Gone Back 50 Years”: Pakistan Farmers On Flood Damage
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Islamabad can scarcely afford imports -- even if it purchases discounted grain from Russia.Pakistan's farmers are still counting their losses from the devastating floods that have put a third of the country under water, but the long-term impact is already clear."We have gone back 50 years," said Ashraf Ali Bhanbro, a farmer in Sindh province whose 2,500 acres of cotton and sugarcane -- on the verge of being harvested -- have now been wiped out.More than 33 million people have been affected by the floods caused by record monsoon rains, and one of the worst-hit areas is Sindh in Pakistan's south.The province is bisected by the mighty Indus River, along whose banks farming has flourished for millennia with records of irrigation systems dating back to 4,000 BC.Sindh's problems are two...