ISLAMABAD, 29 November (IRIN) - The UN's Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has completed seed distribution for the winter wheat
crop across Pakistan's earthquake-affected region, officials said on Wednesday. "A total of 6,050 mt of quality wheat seed and fertilisers have been distributed amongst some 82,000 vulnerable
farming households in seven quake-affected districts," Sabina Ahmed, a spokeswoman for the FAO said in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.These include 48,000 households in the districts of
Muzaffarbad, Bagh and Poonch in Pakistani-administered Kashmir and another 34,000 from the Mansehra, Battagram, Abbottabad and Shangla districts of North West Frontier Province (NWFP), the FAO said. More than 75,000 people died and another 3.5 million were rendered homeless when the devastating earthquake ripped through parts of northern Pakistan on 8 October last year.While the quake caused
extensive damage to public and private infrastructure across 30,000 sq km of mountainous terrain, the direct and indirect loss to crops, livestock and irrigation infrastructure exceed US $440 million,
according to an FAO assessment.The quake meant wheat, maize, rice, fodder and fruit trees could not be harvested, while a huge amount of grain – essential to keep families fed over winter - was
lost in collapsed houses or stores, the FAO reported. Alongside providing agricultural inputs for winter crop, the agency has also been conducting training to educate farmers on improved methods of
wheat sowing and harvesting to obtain higher yields. "Some 330 master trainers were trained in improved wheat production techniques, who will pass on the skills to local communities through village
meetings," said Tim Vaessen, the FAO's emergency coordinator in Pakistan. The organisation has also been extending technical assistance to the government's Earthquake Reconstruction and
Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) in developing a sustainable livelihood rehabilitation strategy for quake-affected farming communities. Since the earthquake struck last year, the FAO, together with
its implementing partners, has assisted some 220,000 vulnerable farming households with agricultural inputs such as maize, wheat, vegetable seeds and fertilisers as well as animal feed and shelter for
livestock.Meanwhile, a summer crop post-harvest survey is under way in the quake zone to assess the overall impact of the FAO's interventions so far, the FAO spokeswoman said. ts/sm/jl
