Federal Minister Food, Agriculture and Livestock Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan has said that overwhelming household and industrial consumption of water in the country is 'one of the reasons' behind its acute shortage for agriculture purposes. Addressing a meeting on "climate changes and water availability in Pakistan" here on Thursday, the minister said that only 150 million acre feet (maf) water was being used for agri purposes which, he thought, was very less against its industrial and household usage.
To bring a fair proportion in the use of water for various purposes, Bosan stressed the need for adopting a micro-management policy especially for arid land.
In the days to come, the minister observed, the situation was likely to become more alarming and could further reduce the agriculture productivity.
Specifically mentioning the projected water shortage for wheat crop during the current Rabi season, the minister said it was a major challenge for the government to meet its production target.
The government has set a wheat production target of 20.2 million tonnes for the current Rabi season, but in the wake of Indus River System Authority's (Irsa) projection of 40 percent shortage of water for the crop compared to last year, it looks difficult to achieve.
Bosan also stressed the need for reviewing prevailing cropping system in the country and said water intensive crops should be replaced by those which had less water consumption.
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