PESHAWAR: Abad Khan, a poor plant seller in Peshawar, is extremely worried after his saplings started dying due to induced climate change weather patterns, the rise of temperature in the spring season, salinity and drought affecting the afforestration business in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Unaware of climate change’s phenomenon, Abad Khan, a resident of Nowshera district, who is associated with the sale and purchase of conventional, fruit, and ornamental plants viz a viz flowers since 2014, is agonized after a decrease in its sales during the current spring season, APP reported.
While loading plants in his Chingchi loader at Tarnab, a hub of ornamental and conventional plants at Peshawar from where varieties of species including Araucaria, Bottle Plam, Gangi Palm, Black Tiger flowers and Alestonia were being transported to different districts for sale, Abad Khan who entered the pain-sticking business after death of his father.
He said that his sale was notably decreased in the ongoing spring after an increase in rates of saplings and rise of temperature besides salinity in districts that was directly located on banks of River Kabul.
He said salinity at Nowshera, Charsadda, and Peshawar districts mostly caused by the 2022 flooding have adversely affected plants’ sale business and many like him were thinking of switching over.
He said that except eucalyptus and poplar, the demands of ornamental and conventional plants have dropped in these districts due to fluctuation in rainfalls and salinity besides flood threats for young plantations.
The plant’s nursery owners who brought different kinds of species from Pathoki, Qasur district also complained about reduced sales this spring and feared economic loss if not sold out timely.
Abdul Qasir, a plant seller, said that he had brought three plant load trucks from Pathoki against five trucks last spring and had hardly sold one truck plants due to sudden increase of temperature and converting lands into housing colonies.
Other Causes of Drop in Plants Sale in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
He said the increase in rates of ornamental plants at Pathoki, transportation, and labour charges also contributed to a decrease in its sales in KP.
Gulzar Rehman, former Conservator of Forests KP, said that salinity is limiting the productivity of crop plants as most species are sensitive to this environmental factor caused by high concentration of salts in the soil in low-lying districts of the province.
Taking a heavy toll on agriculture productivity and plants’ business, he said that salinity in soil and groundwater was leading to substantial economic losses to the farmers, plant growers and putting food security at risk in Pakistan where the population crossed the psychological barrier of 240 million.
Gulzarur Rehman claimed that nearly 1.5 million hectares land was being swallowed by salinity per year while about 6.5 million hectares was saline in the country.
Muhammad Malyar Khan, a progressive farmer and resident of Mohib Banda in Nowshera district, said that he planted eucalyptus on five acres land to control salinity increased after 2022 floods that also caused havoc to agriculture, fish, livestock, and apiculture business.
