Agricultural experts and farmers have called for addressing the issue of water scarcity, deteriorating ground water quality, and decreasing groundwater level in the agriculture policy.
They were addressing at farmers consultative meeting on Punjab agricultural policy arranged by US Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Agriculture and Food Security, Outreach Chair, University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) at the farm of Sarwat Malik.
Chairing the session, UAF Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan said that the per capita water availability in the country has decreased to 1000 cubic-meter which is putting us in the red zone in per water availability index. He said that 1.2 million tube-wells were operating in the country, deteriorating the quality of ground water. Every year, 2 to 3 foot underground water was going down. He said that we are not rationally pumping out ground water.
He called for constriction the dams in order to face the challenges as we are sending a lot of water back to the seas. He said that the modern irrigation like drip and sprinkle would help address the issue. He said that Faisalabad was presenting a situation like Thal 150 years ago. He said that then British government had come up with a viable canal system that gave life to this barren land. He also suggested that barren land in Balochistan can be converted into a fertile land by addressing the issue of water.
He lamented that the rice is highly water intensive crop. We are exporting the rice of Rs 2 billion at the cost of water costing Rs 10 billion. He demanded a shift in policy to put a focus on water efficient crops.
He also said that subsidy was a hurdle to create an atmosphere of competitiveness. He said that subsidized sector can not be profitable. He said that vibrant market and value addition mechanism in agriculture sector was the need of the hour. It is the weakest area in our country.
He said the Punjab government was making all out efforts to address the problem of the farming community. The meeting was a part of that effort in order to get suggestion from the farmers for redesigning the agricultural policy.
Progressive farmer Khalid Malik said that India had set up more than 150 dams and blocking our water. He said that the Indus water treaty needed to be revisited.
Vice President Citrus Association Ibad Khan called for developing the certified seed. He said that the cost of the production was increasing, narrowing down the income of the farmers. He said that mechanism about proper profit of the farming community must be devised to address the problems of the farming community.
Progressive Farmer Faisal Shah said that there is a need to develop a system of modern trends to increase the per acre production that will rise the income of farming community. He said that we don't need subsidy we need modern system to increase the productivity. He said that ground water of India has been badly hit due to heavy pumping caused to free electricity on tube well
Progressive Farmer Fareed Noon said high efficient system and big dams were imperative to address the issue. He also called for drip and sprinkle irrigation.
Dr Afzal Rizvi said that there is need to analyze the domestic agri production and import relation. He said increase in production was adding the woes of the farmers. Whereas the prices of the commodity did not increase. He said that we have to give rights to the rural population in the education, health and electricity.
Dr Noshaba said that post harvest were causing the loss worth billions of rupees. We have to promote the packing in fruits and vegetables also.
Hamid Mali called for developing the ground water recharge policy. He lamented we are dumping 35MAF every year to the sea. He said that for the last 40 years, we have failed to develop the big dams.
Mian Shoukat said that we have to make the rational use of water and we are exploiting our resources from our own hands. He stressed upon the need of a good agriculture policy keeping in view the present and future challenges.