Enhancing agriculture-production: sprinkler, drip irrigation system to be installed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has decided to install Sprinkler and Drip Irrigation System on 2,000 acre land to increase agriculture productivity. It would bring barren land under cultivation in the province while two small dams would be built in Abbottabad and Bannu to cater the energy and agriculture's requirements of masses.
Official sources in Agriculture Department told APP on Monday that a project on installation of high efficiency irrigation system was also proposed to the government in order to ensure easy availability of canal water to tail end fields. The government will also construct a small water reservoir in Abbottabad and Baran dam in Bannu district to store water for agriculture uplift. The provincial government this year would focus on ongoing programmes by providing requisite technical information and inputs to farmers for increasing agricultural productivity and exploiting provincial comparative advantage in production, export of high value added crops and horticultural products.
The official said fruit orchards would be laid on 1100 acres land besides lying of 4,565 demonstration plots of crops, vegetables and fruit in different areas of KPK. The agriculture department will focus on improvement of watercourses and irrigation channels to enhance productivity and efficacy in this sector. As many as 354 watercourses would be improved and 315 water storage tanks would be constructed while 110 solar pumps would be installed upcoming fiscal year He said 3,000 acres of land would be developed through laser technology while 25 bulldozers would be purchased for levelling of fields besides installation of 60 tube wells to offsets the impact of desertification and global warming.
Focus would be made upon improving livelihoods of rural women through livestock interventions, sustainable development initiatives for fisheries, aquaculture and integrated approach for food security, poultry production, processing and marketing through public-private partnerships, conservation of native livestock breeds, on farm water management activities and establishment of campuses of Agriculture University. The agriculture department has also proposed a project on installation of high efficiency irrigation system in the province.