Punjab Rabi crops are facing 50 percent shortage of irrigation water at the critical stage of their maturity and the Met office says there is no likelihood of any significant rainfall in the near future, Punjab Irrigation engineers told Business Recorder here on Thursday.
They said that Indus River System Authority (IRSA) has already exhausted water stored in Tarbela and Mangla dams prematurely. It is now releasing only run of the river water in the sprawling irrigation canal network across the country which is 50 percent less than the requirement for providing last watering to the crops before harvest in the second week of April. Punjab has already closed all its non-perennial canals.
Agronomist estimated that due to water shortage in the second half of March wheat production would be reduced up to 2.2 million tons in Punjab, the food basket of the country.
According to 15th March rivers flows and reservoirs level report of Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), 17,200 cusecs water is inflowing in the river Indus at Tarbela, 6,600 cusecs in river Kabul at Nowshera, 14,300 cusecs in river Jhelum at Mangla and 8,200 cusecs in river Chenab at Marala, near Sialkot.
Of these flows in the Indus Zone, Sindh is receiving 30,300 cusecs water at Guddu, 23,400 cusecs at Sukkur and 2,250 cusecs at Kotri barrage on river Indus for irrigating the crops. Water and agriculture experts told this scribe that the recent light rainfall in Central and Upper Punjab had moderately mitigated the adverse affects of shortage of water on the Rabi crops including wheat, grams, oilseeds, sunflower, vegetables, fodder and fruits.
They said wheat was cultivated at 16.3 million acre land in the province. The winter rainfall has been very low this season for the 1.2 million acre cropped sown over the non-irrigated areas of Rawalpindi Division especially for the grams crop which is 95 percent dependent on rainwater.
Chairman Pakistan Agri-forum Ibrahim Mughal said that the day time temperature had suddenly risen past week shortening the spike and grain content of the wheat crop. He said the light rain has also 2 to 3 degree brought down the temperature which is very conducive for wheat crop.
Meanwhile the technical committee of IRSA comprising senior officials/engineers of the provincial governments is meeting here today (Friday) to determine the water shortfall early next month at the start of sowing of summer Kharif crops. Experts say that water shortage crisis could persist till the end of April if temperatures did not begin to rise in the northern parts of the country soon. Director General Meteoro-logical services, Dr Arif Mahmood, said that though snowfall on the mountains and upper regions has been above normal this winter yet the river inflows are not picking up due to cold weather in the region.