Agriculture growth is vital to overall economic growth in Pakistan and annually it should be 4 percent, which needs new growth strategy, said World Bank's senior official Dr Mark Cackler here on Wednesday. He said this while speaking at a two-day "Round table Discussion on Agriculture and Water in Pakistan" which was jointly organised by the Planning Commission of Pakistan, the World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations and USAID.
Dr Mark said that Pakistan should focus on following areas; improve and enhance agricultural productivity; use of suitable technology in agriculture should be encouraged, improved means of communication for marketing be used; incentives should be provided to the small farmers, growers be educated about the efficient use of water, agriculture marketing be improved, he said.
He added that investment in agricultural sector is essential to enhance productivity, which also protect produce from pest attacks and consequently improve the living standards of rural masses. Mark Cackler asked for adopting the better market managements, encouraging the private sector in livestock and fisheries sector. He also asked for technological up gradation, biotechnology, communications and incentives for improving the existing system.
Talking about the key issues confronting Pakistan agriculture sector he said that it needs better water management practices, private sector should be encouraged to take part in agriculture development project, innovations in the livestock & fisheries sector, improving market practices, climate change and in this regard the government has to play an important role.
Speaking on the occasion Dr Mushtaq Gill of South Asian Conservation Agriculture Network (SACAN) said that over the time Pakistan has become a water deficient country and there a dire need to use available water efficiently. He said that implementation of water management mega projects has shown immediate returns in terms of water savings and productivity enhancement being cost affective, non controversial and well accepted by the farming community;
The execution of on going projects is stalled due to severe financial crunch, while the World Bank, USAID and others lending agencies may provide immediate funding (Bridge financing) for continuity of these projects. He said that Pakistan could bring around 28 million acres of land under cultivation by following the Alien models (UAE), Sanai (Israel/Egypt), Ghobi (China) and Rajasthan (India), which is equal to the total cultivated lands of Punjab. Like Egypt's new areas, Pressurised Irrigation System should be encouraged in Thal, Thar, Cholistan, Chaghi (Kharan) and others rain-fed areas. For sustainable development, emphasis should go beyond provision of water management services to include productivity and profitability per unit of water, he concluded.
Addressing the seminar, Chairman Indus River System Authority (IRSA) Rao Irshad Ali Khan urged for building more water reservoirs to enhance the water storage capacity in the country for agriculture use and generating hydel-power to counter ongoing energy crisis.
He informed that about 160 million acre feet (MAF) flood water was wasted due to low storage capacity in the country, adding only 8 million acre feet of water could be saved from wasting.
He further said that live storage capacity of the dams like Terbela, Mangla and Chashma were 11.5 MAF adding that the capacity would be enhanced up to 14.5 where as the current requirement was 122 MAF per annum. He informed that Egypt has 1,000-day carryover capacity, US 900 days India 500 days while Pakistan has only 30 days carryover capacity.
Pakistan was heading towards water scarcity in terms of per capita water availability adding that in the year 1951 it had 56,00 cubic meter (CM), in 2007 it reduced to 12,00 CM and it reached 1000 CM during the current year, while in next 15 years it would be reduced to 800 CM.
IRSA head said that government has initiated some mega projects in water sector including Mangla Dam uprising which would add the live storage capacity 2.88 MAF, Mirini dam, 0.152 MAF Satpara dam 0.053 MAF, while Gomal Zam dam 0.892 MAF. Besides, he said that prospective storage of the under progress projects including Diamer Basha dam, Kalabagh, Akhori, Munda and Kurran Tangi would further increase the live storage capacity up to 22.27 MAF. The main objective of the event was to share the international best practices for efficient use of water resources and addressing the challenges to enhance the output of crops to achieve food security in the country.
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