Work on 102 watercourses to begin this month

The work on construction of 102 watercourses will begin this month in various districts of Sindh under Sindh On-farm Water Management Project. This was stated by Advisor to Sindh Chief Minister for Irrigation Murtaza Jatoi, while presiding over a meeting of Engineers and officers of On-farm Water Management Project to review the progress and pace of work here in his office on Friday.
The meeting was informed that Precise Laser Land Levelling would also be carried out on 40,000 hectares of land to level it in order to cope with the shortage of irrigation water.
It may be recalled that the project was initiated in the previous year, under which 4,000 watercourses were to be cemented at a cost of Rs 4,917.420 million. In this connection the financing from the World Bank would be to the tune of Rs 3,544.75 million.
Mir Murtaza Jatoi expressed his dissatisfaction over the pace of the progress and directed the concerned officials to gear up the work and ensure completion of the project within shortest period of time, so that the growers might derive benefits from it.
He underlined the need for growers' acquaintance with modern technology and its adoption along with methods of efficient use of water on farms.
The Advisor directed the concerned officials to start an awareness campaign for growers to educate and inform them about the agricultural produce which required less water, but at the same time earned them a handsome return.
"The growers should be informed about the advantages of cementing the watercourses and significance of levelling the land to stop the wastage of water and cope with its shortage," he said and added no negligence in that regard, would be tolerated.
It was stated that under the project 2,500 saline area, 1,200 fresh area and 200 other watercourses would be cemented and lined. 40,000 hectares of land would undergo Precise Land Levelling and 150 Laser Equipment will be distributed.
In this regard 100 Farmers' Organisations will be formed besides setting up of as many Demonstration Centres.