07 February 2004	Saturday	15 Zilhaj 1424

ISLAMABAD, Feb 6: The federal government has agreed to provide Rs4.9 billion to help undertake "Sindh On Farm Water Management Project" for improving efficiency, reliability and equity of irrigation water distribution in the province, official sources said on Friday.

They told Dawn, the project cleared by the Sindh Development Working Party on Nov 6, 2003, and submitted to the federal government on Dec 5, 2003, was expected to be formally approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council shortly.

The project, likely to be partially funded by the World Bank, will be implemented in all of the province's 16 districts, covering a total area of 1.035 million hectares and benefiting a population of about 1 million.

Sindh had called for an early approval of the project to enhance the overall agricultural productivity of the province, the sources said.

Officials said the project would also enhance the long-term financial sustainability of the irrigation system by fostering self-sustaining water course associations at watercourse level and farmers organizations at distributary levels.

The main objectives of the project are to increase crops' intensity and achieve decrease in canal breaches. It will enable farmers in the project area to better manage water and increase agricultural productivity with improved irrigation infrastructure and service delivery.

According to details obtained by Dawn, the project includes establishment of about 100 farmer bodies and sustainable water course associations, improvement of 4,000 watercourses, construction of 200 water storage tanks, improvement of 100 distributary and minor canals and improvement or rehabilitation of 25 branch canals.

It will also include precise land-levelling of 100,000 acres through 150 laser-guided equipment, establishment of 100 demonstration centres, and setting up of integrated pest management and integrated plant and soil nutrient management.

It is due to saline groundwater that around 78 per cent area in Sindh is unsuitable for irrigation.

A study conducted by the Sindh government said that close to the edges of irrigated lands, fresh groundwater can be found. Indiscriminate pumping has resulted in contamination of the aquifer at many places where salinity of tubewell water has increased.

Some 51 per cent of Sindh's total population of over 30 million lives in rural areas. The total geographical area is 14 million hectares, constituting 17.5 per cent of Pakistan. About 5.7 million hectares are commanded by canals. Net sown area is about three million hectares, with about one million hectares sown twice a year.

The Sindh government says poverty in the province is pervasive and deep in rural areas. About 37 per cent of the rural population lives below the poverty line compared to 33 per cent all over Pakistan. Over 70 per cent of the rural population is landless.