n late July 2010, devastating floods hit Pakistan. In Sindh, 7 million people were displaced and 2.6 million acres of standing crop were destroyed. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Sindh Agriculture Recovery Project represents $15 million in assistance from the American people to flood affected Sindhi farmers for sowing sunflower over 93,240 acres of otherwise unseeded land. Sunflower seed can be sowed from October to February, much later than wheat, thereby allowing more time for the water from the floods to settle. The revenues generated from Sunflower farming are comparable to those acquired from wheat farming. The project duration is from November 2010 to June 2011 and the target area of the project consists of the seven worst flood affected districts in Sindh: Jacobabad, Qambar Shahdadkot, Shikarpur, Kashmore, Larkana, Thatta and Dadu.
Why Sunflowers:
Sunflowers can be sowed from October to February, much later than wheat, thereby allowing more time for the water to settle.
Shorter crop life cycle of up to 4 months as compared to 6 months for wheat.
Sunflowers are drought-resistant.
Agronomy and farm management for sunflowers is relatively less.
Sunflower can be sown on diverse soil textures.
The revenues are comparable to those of wheat overall, and especially, on a per month income basis.
Assistance Package
For each acre of land, the package includes:
Sunflower seed, 2 kg
DAP bag, 50 kg
Urea bag, 50 kg
Farmers will also be provided with:
Training on the sowing, growing, harvesting and post-harvesting processes
Tractors for land preparation
Threshers and other equipment for harvesting
Cash for work to rehabilitate watercourses
Target Beneficiaries
Target beneficiaries will be selected on the basis of:
Size of farm, up to 20 acres of land and area available for sunflower cultivation as well as condition of land
Irrigation source,
Status of farmer (owner, tenant, sharecropper),
Alternate sources of income if any,
Number of dependents under the age of 16,
Special emphasis will be placed on providing the program package to widows/female headed households.
Partner Involvement
The project is a USAID-funded project. RSPN is the lead implementing partner and will be managing the grant, monitoring, reporting, liaising with different stakeholders, coordinating the various partners and overall managing the project. The Sindh Rural Support Organisation (SRSO) has been subcontracted to implement the project on the ground while the Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB) will monitor the distribution process and help with marketing the produce.
Complaint Redressal Mechanism
In case citizens believe there is fraud/abuse/waste observed in any USAID project, they may report possible cases to the Anti-Fraud Hotline established by USAID and Transparency International, Pakistan. More information on the Hotline can be found here: https://www.anti-fraudhotline.com.
Disclaimer“This web content is made possible by the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the sole responsibility of Rural Support Programmes Network (RSPN) and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.”
