Pakistan’s female agriculture workers suffering since 2022 floods

Dadu, Sindh, Pakistan – On a cloudy spring afternoon at Dital Khan Chandio village in Pakistan’s Sindh province, a gaggle of feminine agricultural employees are busy stitching conventional handicraft objects exterior their makeshift tents subsequent to stagnant floodwaters.

The village in Dadu district, about 380km (235 miles) from Pakistan’s largest metropolis Karachi, was one of many worst affected by final yr’s catastrophic floods, attributable to melting glaciers and document monsoons – each induced by local weather change.

The floods affected 33 million folks, destroyed 2.2 million houses and killed greater than 1,700 folks.

For Haleema Aslam, the floodwaters introduced misery and distress as they washed away her mature crops and livestock “alongside along with her desires”.

Indebted to an area landlord for years, the 45-year-old misplaced her livelihood within the catastrophe.

“Earlier than floods I labored within the agricultural fields from daybreak to nightfall to lift my 5 kids and lift my livestock to make ends meet. Now there isn’t a land for cultivation and all my livestock – over a dozen goats, 4 buffaloes and three cows – drowned,” Aslam informed Al Jazeera.

Seven months after the deluge, Aslam nonetheless feels the trauma of the August evening, adopted by days of strolling after she was compelled to depart her home.

She is amongst 7.2 million feminine agricultural employees in Pakistan now uncovered to excessive climate occasions, in response to a 2018 report (PDF) by the United Nations.

“Dwelling within the tents was troublesome for me and my household. There have been assaults of snakes and different reptiles, particularly at evening. So we moved again to our home after two months regardless that our home was submerged. However after we returned, it rained once more and drowned our home, forcing us emigrate once more,” mentioned Aslam.

Ladies compelled to remain in open-air tents for prolonged intervals as a result of pure disasters have confronted challenges associated to privateness and societal norms, with Pakistan’s Minister for Local weather Change Sherry Rehman calling the unprecedented floods “the worst humanitarian catastrophe of this decade”.

Regardless of donors pledging $9bn of flood help to Pakistan, Aslam has not obtained a cent to rebuild her home.

Job losses and debt

The Worldwide Labour Group (ILO) says disruptions and job losses as a result of floods affected about 4.3 million employees in Pakistan.

In response to the ILO information, the share of feminine employment within the agriculture sector is 65 %, making it the nation’s greatest employer which contributes 23 % to the nation’s gross home product (GDP).

However girls are sometimes denied labour rights and protections, employed with out written contracts, and principally get decrease wages than males.

Furthermore, with Pakistan being one of the vital weak international locations to local weather change, the agriculture sector stays significantly uncovered to excessive climate circumstances and their aftermath.

Seema Chandio, 43, is one other resident of Dital Khan Chandio village whose home and 15 acres (six hectares) of land owned by her household had been submerged for 3 months.

“Water stood as much as seven ft in our home – properly above my peak. It took almost three months to recede and we lived like nomads,” she informed Al Jazeera.

When Chandio returned to her village, her home had utterly vanished.

“We had purchased seeds, fertilisers and pesticides from the market. All our rice and cotton crops had been destroyed, leading to an enormous loss. We bought the seeds, fertilisers and pesticides once more for the subsequent wheat crop, however we had been unable to sow on time as a result of presence of water that had not receded till January,” she mentioned, as she labored on rebuilding her home.

“Because the floods, my household is below a debt of 300,000 rupees ($1,060). This quantity doesn’t account for the potential income that would have been earned from the 2 crop seasons we misplaced,” she added.

Though the floodwaters have receded in a lot of the affected areas, 1.8 million folks nonetheless dwell close to soiled and stagnant water, in response to the United Nations Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), resulting in a lack of agricultural livelihoods for ladies for 2 consecutive crop seasons.

“My household’s bread and butter revolves round farming by which each member takes half. After dropping the paddy crop utterly, we may solely domesticate wheat as water was nonetheless standing. It’s going to harm us the entire yr as we’d not be capable to feed our household with none reduction from the federal government,” Chandio mentioned.

Labour and gender rights activists say final yr’s floods that destroyed two consecutive crops resulted in a big quantity of debt for peasants, together with girls. When monsoons arrived, the standing crops of cotton and rice had been washed away. As water didn’t recede in subsequent months, the upcoming wheat season was additionally severely affected.

“The state of affairs has led to losses as an alternative of income from these back-to-back crop losses. Consequently, girls farmers who had been unable to work on their farms for six months or extra at the moment are burdened with money owed,” Akram Khaskheli, a farmer, human rights activist and president of a charity group informed Al Jazeera.

Azra Ameer nonetheless lives in a tent. She misplaced most of her cattle within the floods, leaving her with no technique of revenue to assist her household. Together with her husband sick and bedridden, she faces an unsure future and an uphill battle to rebuild her life.

“The flood-related trauma we have now confronted in a number of varieties will hang-out us for a lifetime. It has shattered our lives,” the 30-year-old livestock employee informed Al Jazeera.

Consultants say that whereas developed international locations arrange a loss and injury fund on the 2022 COP27 local weather change convention, it doesn’t account for the losses suffered by weak international locations resembling Pakistan.

“Any local weather fund must be proportional to the injury that has been attributable to the most important emitters, and it ought to be obligatory for the most important polluters to pledge a portion of their annual funds in direction of paying reparations and there ought to be a mechanism to implement these funds,” Osama Malik, an environmental lawyer, informed Al Jazeera.

Nevertheless, Malik added that in Pakistan, the place monetary transparency is dismal, “there must also be a mechanism to make sure that cash from the loss and injury fund ought to be utilised correctly on flood victims resembling feminine labourers and mustn’t wasted inefficiently or embezzled”.

“Prior to now, we have now seen that each time a catastrophe has struck Pakistan, whether or not within the type of earthquake, floods and even COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of the funds or help that got here from overseas had been utilised by the army with out a lot oversight, leading to additional weakening of civilian establishments. It’s hoped that any local weather reparation funds won’t be utilised similarly,” Malik mentioned.

This story was made doable by the assist of the USA Institute of Peace (USIP) Pakistan Program.

Zulfiqar Kunbhar contributed reporting.