Professor Dr Abdul Latif Qureshi said that Pakistan has to face acute shortage of water in year 2025 in the consequences of continuously decreasing of water on per capita availability. Speaking to the local farmers and Agriculture Service Providers (ASPs) in the workshop organised by Institute of Water Resources Engineering and Management (IWREM) at US-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Water (USPCAS-W) Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET) Jamshoro on Saturday,
Dr Qureshi said, "With the support of the government and international agencies, the local farmers were being sensitized to adopt the modern best irrigation practices like drip, sprinkler, pipe and furrow". He said that use of water has been increased in the daily life for various purposes, including domestic, agriculture, and industrial, energy, power generation and also for recreational activities. Due to increase use of water and the rapid growth of population, Dr Qureshi said, "Per capita availability of water will be decreased up to 858 in 2025". Dr Qureshi said that under the funding of the World Bank, and Sindh has to irrigate 35, 000 acres whereas Punjab has to irrigate one 1,10, 000 acres of un-irrigated land through the drip irrigation system. He further said that not only the modern irrigation methods but the modern cropping have to be adopted like raised bed planting and zero tillage.
Niaz Sial, a community development specialist of Research and Development Foundation (RDF), while speaking at the workshop sponsored by International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) said that ASPs were trained through South Asian Conservation Network (SACAN) under the project of Diffusion and Adoption Through Partnerships and Action Of The Best Watershed Rehabilitation and Irrigation Practices and Technologies To Help Rural Farmers-Phase II. ASPs including Raza Mohammad Khoso, Muhammad Bux Khoso, Wazir Ali Burfat and others while sharing their training feedback and experiences which they got through SACAN, said that they came to know through the training that plants need water rather than the land so the modern irrigation practices like drip paves the way to irrigate the plants properly and also water could be save through this method. Soil scientist of USPCAS-W MUET Muneer Memon informed the participants that by adding organic materials in soil and adopting mulching agriculture technique, water holding capacity of the soil can be enhanced which will ultimately save the water for further irrigation purposes.
Later on, the workshop participants belonging to Jamshoro and Dadu districts visited the demonstration site of Drip Irrigation system designed and installed by the students of Hydraulics Irrigation and Drainage (HID) under the supervision of Head of HID Department Dr Abdul Latif Qureshi at the premises of USPCAS-W MUET Jamshoro. MS students of HID, including Aqeel Ahmed Sahito, Nageena Makhdoom, Azeem Ahmed, Uroosa and Summaiya briefed the farmers and ASPs about the design, installation, water flow and control of Drip Irrigation system at the demonstration site.
There were about 30 farmers and ASPs participated in the workshop and shared their experiences and ideas for the future planning of water saving. The participants were also given the application forms to adopt the drip irrigation method which subsidized by the Sindh Government up to 60 per cent, and farmers are facilitated through Sindh Irrigated Agriculture Productivity Enhancement Project (SIAPEP), Agriculture Information and Extension and RDF.
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