Quenching the thirst of land and life in Balochistan

The renowned poet Oliver Goldsmith in his famous poem 'The Deserted Village' invokes:
Ill fares the land, to hast'ning ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates and men decay;
But a bold peasantry, their country's pride;
When once destroyed can never be supplied;
The lines intensify that desertification graves the socio-economic Fabric and that the most affected profession is peasantry. When poor peasants, for keeping their pot boiling, thrust aside their profession, food providing source is destroyed for ever.
The question arises as to why a peasant is forced to shift his profession and leaves his native town. The significant factors behind this motive in general, could be lack of water for irrigation, inadequate agricultural supplies and finally not having the due reward for the crop. If a farmer is provided with a piece of land and enough water for cultivation, he will never think of leaving his profession rather he will put his maximum in for increasing the per acre yield and subsequently his income. Thus water is nevertheless life.
Coming to the agricultural scenario of Pakistan, in general, and of Balochistan, in particular, the focus is to seek the answer to the simmering questions: will our peasants have to abandon the cultivation for want of water for irrigation purpose? Are there any efforts under way to avoid such a situation?
Pakistan is fortunate enough as it is blessed with sufficient water resources, but at the same time, unfortunate as well for not fully harnessing this precious gift of God for one reason or the other. The irrigated agriculture is believed to be the fulcrum of our economy. The overwhelming majority of the population is associated with agriculture. The agriculture sector is the major user of water and its consumption will continue to dominate water requirements. With large cultivable land base of 77 million acres of which only 36 million acres are canal commanded, Pakistan still has the abundant potential of bringing about 22.5 million acres of virgin land under irrigation, awaiting water to quench their thurst, to produce much needed food and fibre.
To make this dream come true, an integrated plan has been chalked out and is being implemented through length and breadth of the country including Balochistan.
Balochistan has diversified landscape comprising snow-capped mountains, dry highlands, deserts, small alluvial plains, inlets and arid coastal areas. This diversity in climate enables the province not only to grow a large number of crops, vegetables, tropical fruit but also to rear their herds. Agriculture is the major economic activity in the province and contributes over 50 percent of the provincial domestic products, of which the major crops contribute over 26 percent, minor crops 8 percent and livestock 15 percent. Almost 67 percent of the labour force is engaged in agriculture oriented activities.
Though the crop area of Balochistan is 3.8 percent of total area under plough in the country, yet the province is the largest contributor to the national produce of apples to the extent of 82 percent, peaches 69 percent, grapes 97.6 percent, pomegranates 82 percent, dates 64 percent, almonds 93.5 percent and plums 49 percent. This quantum testifies encouraging role of Balochistan in national agricultural yield, especially in fruit with 45 percent of the total harvest of the country.
Balochistan had never had a high agricultural productivity per acre and had been contributing fighting men rather than agricultural revenues to the various empires long before the arrival of the British.
It will be interesting to know that the first ever irrigation project of Balochistan, named Kirthar Canal, was completed in 1932 under the rule of Khan of Kalat,
Mir Muhammad Azam Jan to the benefit of agriculture in Balochistan.
Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) is engaged in implementing three water resource development projects, initiated in Balochistan couple of years ago. At present, Mirani Dam, Sabakzai Dam and Kachhi Canal are advancing in their execution.
The construction work on Sabakzai Dam project, located in Zhob district was commissioned in January 2003 on Sarwar Rud, a tributary of Zhob river. This earth fill dam designed to be 33 meter in height and 396 meter long having a storage capacity of
0.025 MAF. The completion of this project with an estimated cost of Rs. 1010.35 million is expected in December 2005. The Sabakzai Dam would irrigate 6,680 acres of land. Zhob is known for its potential of bearing fruit like apples, plums, grapes and other dry fruit. The provision of water to these fruit orchards would certainly increase the produce resulting in bringing socio-economic prosperity to the area.
Wapda initiated construction of Mirani Dam, the second project in Balochistan, on July 1, 2002. This envisages construction of 127 feet high earth fill dam with crest length of 3,350 feet. on river Dasht, some 45 kilometers west of Turbat city. The dam would have a storage capacity of 3,02,000 acre feet of water. It is expected to be completed by June 2006 at an estimated cost of Rs. 3514 million. The dam would enable thirsty 33,200 acres of land in Makran to satiate their dryness after its completion.
The third water resource development scheme being implemented by Wapda for Balochistan is Kachhi Canal, having a length of 500 km (300 km in Punjab and 200 km in Balochistan) and would carry 6,000 cusecs of water through 2,000 km long distribution system. Kachhi canal will feed 7,13,000 acres of land.
The project undertaken in October 2002 would meet with completion at an estimated cost of Rs. 31,204 million in June 2007. The independent canal will have its regulator at Taunsa Barrage.
Wapda is striving hard for timely completion of these projects to put its share in boosting the agriculture activities keeping in view the importance of water reservoirs for the water scarce areas. Completion of these three mega water projects in Balochistan within next four years with the total estimated cost of about Rs. 37 billion will not only cater for provision of irrigation supplies and water for life but also create appreciable number direct and indirect job opportunities for the locals who already have been engaged at the projects in a good number.
Wapda is rightly on its way to bring prosperity and economic development to the far flung and remote areas throughout the country. By quenching its thirsty lands, the largest province of Pakistan will hopefully experience a wave of change - a change culminating into a sustained development. Just imagine the future of Balochistan amidst these gargantuan activities and more water reservoir projects to be executed in the years to come like Naulang, Talli, Tangi, Anamber and Babar Kach. . Isn't it bright and blooming one!