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PAKISTAN: Ruined Farmers Say Children Won't Go to School

Ashfaq Yusufzai

PESHAWAR, Aug 6 2009 (IPS) - Fertile Swat's famous orchards of peach, plum and apple were just starting to ripen when the Pakistan military launched an air and land attack on Taliban fighters in end-April, uprooting tens of thousands of civilians.

More than two million refugees fled the mountainous Malakand region in the North Western Frontier Province (NWFP), spread over six districts including Swat – the biggest exodus of internally displaced peoples (IDPs) after Rwanda in the nineties, according to the United Nations.

In early July, Pakistan's Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani announced the successful completion of the military operation in Swat, the worst affected district, and urged the refugees to return home.

Thousands of farmers among the IDPs who took the buses and trucks laid on by the authorities to their villages in Swat, Buner, Shangla and Dir have sent back reports of widespread destruction of crops and infrastructure.

"I have a three-acre peach orchard," says Wali, a farmer from Charbagh in Swat district. "I wasn't able to pick a single fruit because of the military operation. Now we have arrived to find all the fruit has rotted," he told IPS over the phone.

Wali, who did not want to give his first name, said he would not be able to send his three children – two girls and a boy – back to school because he had no money.

Farming families were amongst the worst affected by the militancy – Taliban fighters ran a parallel administration in Swat – and the army's operation to flush out armed militants, says Sher Mohammad Khan, director-general of NWFP's agriculture and livestock department.

The total estimated losses add up to more than one billion dollars in the six militancy-plagued districts, he says. Farmers in Swat, Buner, Shangla, Upper Dir and Lower Dir need immediate financial support for rehabilitation, he adds.

In 2008, Swat had produced 143,324 tonnes of fruit (peaches, plums, pears, grapes, citrus fruits, apples and apricots) and 128,018 tonnes of vegetables (onions, garlic, potato, tomato and other greens). Fruit farming was spread over 13,119 hectares and vegetables on 10,240 hectares in 2007-08.

The government has approved 30 million dollars for the rehabilitation of farmers in the conflict-riddled districts by providing them with soft loans, seeds, plants, fertilisers and livestock among other things.

"But the government has no money and is looking for support from donor organisations," says Fawad Ali, the government's focal person for rehabilitation and recovery of the farmers.

The World Bank and Asian Development Bank have together with the government begun a data collection survey to estimate the total loss of livelihoods in the conflict-affected districts. The U.N.'s Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has expressed willingness to assist farmers with technical support.

"About one million people in the conflict districts are dependent on farming. What would they do if the government failed to help them?" asks Mohammad Ayaz, 38, who left Mardan for his native Swat district on Aug. 5.

He says he has no money to buy seeds and other necessities to make his 10-acre land cultivable. "My land located in Kabal Swat has been severely bombed by the army. It was my only source of income," he says, despairingly.

By his side is Rahim Gul of Saidu Sharif, Swat, who is equally concerned about his agricultural land and the loss of 50 heads of cattle.

"I paid for my daughter's university education out of the money generated from farming. Now, I fear, my daughter won't be able to complete her degree in political science," he told IPS.

His daughter, Jamila Gul, wants the government and the U.N. to bear the expense of her education.

"We should not be at the receiving end of the conflict. It's the U.S. which is behind the (military) campaign against the militants and it should make arrangements for the education of students in the conflict region," she says in an interview with IPS.

This correspondent also spoke over the phone to Jamila's classmate, Najma Bibi, who had returned with her family to Swat.

"The situation here is pathetic. Shops have run out of foodstuff and other articles. Prices are sky-high. Schools have opened but there is no infrastructure," she said. "People here are stuck," she observes.

Naseem Shah, 55, of Matta, Swat, says he has not been able to go to his home in Matta, because the area has not been cleared of militants.

"People told me my two tractors and wheat threshers have been completely destroyed. I am thinking of staying back in Mardan and starting a small business here," he says. Until last year, Shah was earning about 10,000 dollars a year from his farm. Unless there is immediate government help, the future is very bleak for farming families.