Rice, cotton, sugarcane and other kharif crops are facing 50 percent shortage of water at a critical stage of their maturity as water flows in the four live rivers have to come down to the winter level in the months of September/October, Consultant, Punjab Irrigation, M H Siddiqui, told Business Recorder here on Sunday.
The current total flow in the four rivers is 1,15,000 cusecs (Indus 65.500 cusecs, Kabul 13,700 cusecs, Jhelum 16,900 cusecs and Chenab 21,200 cusecs) against water requirement of 2,50,000 cusecs.
He said that the Indus River System Authority has been releasing additional 60,000 cusecs water from Tarbela and Mangla dams to meet minimum irrigation water requirements of the provinces for past three weeks. "Due to additional releases to supplement run of the river water, Tarbela dam has been emptied by 53 ft, and Mangla by 25 ft." he added.
He said that Punjab is being given about 85,000 cusecs water, against the requirement of 1,30,000 cusecs for maturity at the most crucial time of Kharif crops which are lifeline of Pakistan's economy.
President of Basmati Growers Association, Hamid Malhi, said that 22,000 cusecs Marala-Ravi Link Canal emanating from river Chenab at Marala Headworks near Sialkot had been closed for more than a month due to abnormal decrease of water flow in the river that has badly affected Basmati paddy crop over 100,000acres of land in Sialkot, Narowal and Sheikhpura districts, causing a loss of billions of rupees to the country.
Founder-convenor of Punjab Water Council, Farooque Bajwa, said that non-availability of water in the rice growing areas at this stage would reduce the grain in the paddy and the per acre yield, resulting in around 0.5 million tons less production of paddy this year that was more than 7 million tons last year.
He said in southern Punjab, first pick of cotton was damaged by cotton leave curl virus (CLCV) and the second pick is badly affected due to shortage of water nowadays, shattering growers' hopes to recover their production cost. The shortfall in cotton production will cause Rs 55 billion loss to the growers," he added.
Meanwhile, various grower associations are protesting against the reduction of paddy procurement price by the government from Rs 1500 per 40 kg to Rs 1250 per 40 kg super basmati this year, causing per acre net loss of Rs 7000 to the farmers. Kissan Board Pakistan has announced to hold a protest rally on Wednesday before the Press Club, Lahore, to highlight problems of the paddy growers and apathy of the government towards small farmers.
In a statement, President of Kissan Board, Zafar Hussain, has criticised the government for not fielding the Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Services Corporation (Passco) to purchase paddy to stabilise paddy prices in the market.
He said the government has left the growers to the mercy of the open market, rice mills and the middlemen who are paying Rs 500 per 40 kg to the farmers for the new crop, instead of support price of Rs 600.
He threatened to launch a nation-wide movement against the government if it failed to solve the immediate problems of the growers.
However, mother nature has been kind to the farmers in particular and public at large as there were widespread scattered rains over NWFP, northern Punjab, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir on Saturday and Sunday. The meteorological department recorded following rainfall in mm.
Mianwali 81, Kohat 48, Sehrkakota 33, D.I. Khan 30, Jhang 25, Abbotabad & Rawalakot 23, Kakul 20, Nauseri l9, Chakwal 18, Cherat 16, Muree 15, Garhidupatta & Jhang 13 (each), Talhatta 12, Kalam 10, Islamabad 0.9 mm Muzaffarabad and Noorpurthal 07 (each), Hunza, Risalpur, Tarbela, Palandri, Tanda Dam & Daggar 06 (each), Parachinar, Pattan, Sargodha & Nowshera 05 (each), Toba Tek Singh, Kamra, Faisalabad & Kotli 04 each, Chitral, Domel, Attock & Dhokpathan 03 (each), Mangla, Dir, Astore, Bannu, Drosh, Saidu Shahnf, Chattar Kallas & Rashidabad 02 (each), Joharabad &Bunji 01 each and Lahore 03.
The department has forecast isolated thunderstorm / rain in Kashmir, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Lahore, Gujranwala, Peshawar, Kohat, Malakand and Haraza divisions on Monday.
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