Pakistan is an agricultural country with 60% of its labor force engaged with the sector directly and indirectly contributing approximately quarter of the annual GDP. In contrast to this, Pakistan is one of the most food insecure countries in the world.
Rajanpur a southern district of Punjab is situated at the west-bank of the river Indus. It is inhabited by 2.3 million people and much of the population is engaged in agriculture sector. The district is also prone to seasonal floods and hill torrents from Mount Suleiman. These disasters force farmers to practice only one crop in relatively safer months, making Rajanpur extremely food insecure district in the province.
By closely observing recent weather pattern it was noticed that there is a small window ‘safe season’ of about 60-80 days before the monsoon. HELP Foundation took this opportunity and launched Mungbean Value Chain Project in three Union Councils of the district. Mungbean was the obvious choice due to its short harvesting cycle and high regional demand.
Climate is changing rapidly; much destruction has been seen in past few years. There is an urgent need to develop farmer’s friendly policies, cropping calendars and a mechanism to support small farmers in order to increase national output. Public, private and social sectors must make collective efforts to overcome the challenges of climate change.
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