FLOOD 2022: AN INSIGHT INTO DAMAGES OF AGRICULTURE AND LIVESTOCK IN DISTRICT DERA ISMAIL KHAN, KP, PAKISTAN

Abstract

Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province was deeply affected by the massive floods of July and August 2022. These unprecedented floods not only threatened human lives at national scale but also caused unprecedented damage to livestock, agriculture, forests, and wildlife, while the destruction of infrastructure is incalculable. These floods resulted in total crop loss in most the cases and death of animal herds. The fluctuations in monsoon patterns due to erratic climate changes additionally alarm the future scenarios of peak pest infestations and heat stress. Some crops i.e., cotton (quantity and quality) were partially affected, and sugar cane, rice, and other types of seeds were most used as adaptation options. Inaccessibility, lack of awareness, expertise and baseline information of the natural resources-livelihood nexus, no organization has considered the damage caused to natural forests, wildlife, rangelands, and aquatic flora and fauna. The floods have directly devastated natural resources and the environment in several ways i.e., flushing out of forests, the carnage of wildlife and the destruction of native aquatic fauna. The post-flood scenarios are the spread of exotic flora and fauna, the spreading of epidemic diseases, and the destruction of habitats. Eventually, natural resources must bear the brunt of the damage caused by the flood in one form or another which ranges from extracting timber, firewood, and fodder to earning a livelihood from forest sales. The farming community of D.I. Khan have been gravely affected by the flood, altering cropping patterns, and ultimately impacting the market economy of agricultural-based economies shortly.