ISLAMABAD, Nov 21: The Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) will soon launch a Rs186.99 million participatory integrated water management programme in the country.
In its recent meeting, the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) approved the five-year programme. The programme to be implemented with farmers' participation is aimed at developing water management technologies for all agro-climatic and topographic divisions such as irrigated, rain-fed, deserts, uplands and coastal areas through ten pilot projects.
Out of these projects, Punjab and Sindh will have two sites while one pilot project each will be launched in Balochistan, uplands of NWFP, Cholistan desert, Barani area, Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir.
The major objective of the programme is to introduce a package of technologies in various ecological zones of the country. For this purpose, farmers will be involved in each pilot site by forming water users' associations.
The project has been designed to help fight the rapidly increasing water scarcity in the country, which is expected to increase further when seen in the light of increased domestic, industrial and agricultural demand and changed rainfall patterns.
PCRWR Chairman Dr Mohammad Akram Kahlon in a briefing apprised Federal Minister for Science and Technology Chaudhry Nouraiz Shakoor Khan of the details of the project.
The minister directed the PCRWR to fully use the manpower available with its regional offices and water resources research centres located at Islamabad, Lahore, Bahawalpur, Tandojam, Quetta and Peshawar for implementation of the project.
Various national and provincial departments such as provincial agricultural departments, on-farm water management, irrigation departments, universities, Thar Development Authority, Cholistan Development Authority and NIAB will also be sharing the responsibility for implementation of the project. -APP
