IMPACT OF FLOODS-2010 ON THE LIVELIHOOD OF FARMING COMMUNITY AT DISTRICT CHARSADDA, PAKISTAN

Abstract

The present study was conducted to investigate the impact of floods-2010 on the affected communities as a whole and farmers of different land ownership status as well as having farms of different sizes. The study was based on the assumption that the floods-2010 made devastating effects on the livelihood of all segments of the community, however, it caused more damages to groups that had less access and no control over the resources such as agriculture, and livestock etc. In this study, the data were collected through a pre-tested interview schedule from 364 respondents belonging to five most affected villages. Each of these five villages was randomly selected from most devastated villages of district Charsadda by floods-2010. During the analysis inferences were drawn through univariate and bivariate modes. The findings of this study confirmed devastating effects of floods-2010 on the livelihood of community as a whole, where floods-2010 caught the respondents suddenly as they were neither informed nor prepared for flood mainly due to the lack of disaster forecasting and warning system in the area. It was found that the floods-2010 mostly affected the residences, fodder and grain stores, agricultural land, machinery and irrigation channels as well as related infrastructures such as roads, electricity, water supply and streets. It was also found that they further faced the epidemics in the form of malaria, diarrhea, cough and scabies. The analysis revealed that the floods-2010 also significantly reduced the cultivatable land, crop production and livestock size etc. It was found that these effects not only forced many people to move towards safer areas at the time of flood but also shifted the community towards off-farm income sources. It was because of the fact that a very large number of respondents were not in a position to meet daily needs and to rebuild their livelihood again without any external support. The study revealed that the cultivated land was reduced significantly along with reduction of crop production and livestock size. This reduction forced both tenants/landless and owner-cum-tenants as well as owners to move towards the off-farm jobs. The analysis further revealed that as a whole, the livelihoods of tenant/landless were affected more than the other two groups. Similarly, at farm size level, the effects on vi livelihood of the small farmers were found more than the medium and large farmers with respect to their residences, grain stores, infrastructure facilities and spreading of epidemics. In connection with agriculture, a significant decrease in crop area and production was found more among large farmers with respect to sugarcane and wheat production while it was more among medium in case of maize. More or less similar effects were observed regarding livestock size as a whole but again small farmers followed by medium farmers and effects were more than the large farmers to the extent where they were not in a position to rebuild their residences and livelihood sources without any external help. Based on the findings the study recommends that to minimize the effects of floods on the livelihood of the people in future, the area should be linked with a certain a disaster forecasting and warning system in order to make people aware about floods and its precautionary measures mainly through imparting trainings. Special attention is further needed to reduce the floods’ effects using government and non-government organizations and agencies in making arrangements for controlling epidemics during floods in the area. Special attention should also be given to rehabilitation of livelihood sources such as agriculture and livestock through providing credit and extending help from agriculture and livestock extension agencies. Furthermore, it is recommended that attention in this regard should be given to the most vulnerable groups i.e. landless, tenants and small farmers in the floods prone areas.