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One of the biggest hurdles in raising agricultural productivity in Pakistan is the shortage of irrigation water in the country. For instance, Pakistan faced considerable water shortages during monsoon, post-monsoon and winter seasons during 2017 and 2018. So far as long-term water strategy of the government is concerned, it centres around five important elements - water augmentation, water conservation, protection of infrastructure from water logging, salinity and floods, groundwater management and institutional reforms. The existing strategy, however, entails augmentation of surface resources to be done by construction of water storage dams, conservation of water to be undertaken through lining of canals and water courses and efficiency enhancement to be done by rehabilitation and better operation of existing system. An amount of Rs 36.8 billion was allocated for water sector's development during FY18 and major water sector projects under implementation were Bhasha Dam, Gomal Zam Dam, Kachhi Canal (Phase I), Darawat Dam, Nai Gaj Dam, Khurram Tangi Dam, Naulong Dam, Mohmand Dam and Right Bank Outfall Dam.

While the shortage of irrigation water is becoming acute with the passage of time, Pakistan has generally adopted a single-minded approach to tackling the problem by trying to increase the availability of water mainly by constructing more dams and conserving water through lining the canals and other water courses. Unfortunately, however, even the construction of dams has been held back due to political opposition in certain provinces and lack of funds while no attention has been paid for the optimum utilization of the existing scarce water resources by changing the methods of cultivation and use of available water supply. Poor water saving methods are obvious from the fact that while around 70 percent of water is used in agriculture sector all over the world, this percentage stands at 90 in Pakistan, with 20 percentage wastage due to deficient irrigation methods. Even the recent emphasis of Prime Minister Imran Khan and the then Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar was on construction of more dams, with only a little hint on the need for saving available water through some known methods practiced in other countries.

However, there is some silver-lining on the horizon through the courtesy of Nestle Pakistan. Inaugurating a site near Sheikhupura under Nestle Pakistan's Agricultural Efficiency Project on 5th February, 2019, its senior vice president, Peter Hofmann, said that this project has the potential to help save 54 million litres of water annually and is a part of the company's "Care for Water" initiative. The present project is possible with the collaboration of the Punjab Government which would cover 40 percent of the farmers' cost. Pakistan's Agricultural Efficiency Project was initiated in 2017 and has so far covered 109 acres of land with an estimated 280 million litres of water saved. Water saving is possible by the installation of drip irrigation as opposed to flood irrigation which was the traditional way of irrigating agricultural fields in the country. Citizens as well as the government of Pakistan need to realize the essence of being water conscious not only for their own survival but for the overall well-being of global ecosystems and economies. Drip irrigation has undoubtedly a massive potential of saving water by taking a step out of conventional methods of farming.

While we appreciate the efforts of Nestle Pakistan and the collaboration of the Punjab Government in promoting drip farming to save water, it would be better if other provincial governments are also taken on the board and such an effort is extended to other parts of the country as well. At present, a tiny portion of country's agriculture land has been covered by drip irrigation due mainly to high cost of switching to this non-traditional method but such a shift is necessary because of constantly decreasing availability of water in the country, increasing migration of population from rural to urban areas and a highly questionable attitude of Indian government towards water-sharing with Pakistan. Another method of saving water could be tunnel farming which has been adopted in certain villages bordering India on a self-help basis and without any kind of support from the agricultural department. Obviously, this method of farming is also expensive as compared to traditional one but needs to be considered for wider adoption to save water. We are of the view that while such methods could be popularised in the country, other options also need to be explored by agricultural universities and other related research institutions to economise the use of water because water resources of the country are depleting fast and Pakistan could face acute shortage of water in the not-so-distant future. According to a World Bank report, poor water management is conservatively estimated to cost dollar 12 billion or 4.0 percent of GDP per annum and improving water use efficiency is the most pressing need of the country.



Copyright Business Recorder, 2019

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