Farmers advised to use water efficiently

Punjab Agriculture Secretary Muhammad Zia ur Rehman told that farmers salvation is in enhancing agricultural productivity and reduce the cost of production through efficient use of water and agricultural inputs and a law is being prepared to regulate the pumping of under ground water to restrict it to level that does not harm water quality.
He was talking to newsmen here on Monday. He said water was a precious commodity essential for life. He said water use efficiency in agriculture was very low compared to global standards. "We could mitigate the shortage of water through various latest water conservation techniques practised around the world," he said.
Punjab Secretary said that capacity of irrigation system in Punjab had not been enhanced according to the increase in cultivation area. He said Thal Canal for instance was built in 1940 with a capacity of 7,500 cusecs of water to irrigate 0.6 million acres of land, but the cultivation area had now increased to 2.4 million acres while the water supplied is the same.
In fact, he added, there is an annual shortfall of 30 per cent even in the originally approved supply. The current need on the basis of cultivation area is 22,500 cusecs, he added. The shortage of water had forced farmers to pump under ground water he said and added the underground water level has gone down due to the over pumping of water through tube wells.
He said the saline water seeps in to fill the vacuum that has deteriorated the quality of water. This in turn has impacted the quality of soil, he added. He said that out of 57000 watercourses the Punjab government has repaired 41,000 while 16,000 watercourses still needed repair.
In fact canal concrete lining of all watercourses is essential to improve efficient water use, stop deterioration of soil and preserve the irrigation network of the country, he added. Agriculture Secretary said Punjab government aims to bring 150,000 acres of land under drip irrigation within next four years. He said that there was a dire need to build new water reservoirs as 25 per cent capacity of the existing dams had been lost due to silt deposits.
He said 70 per cent of the water in the rivers of Pakistan comes during three months which mostly goes into the sea. This water, he added, could be stored if new reservoirs are built. He said 30 per cent enter the rivers in remaining nine months. He said the irrigation system in Punjab was based on 70 per cent cropping but it was operating on 150 per cent.