ISLAMABAD, July 12: Pakistan and international aid agencies have decided to tackle jointly the problem of water-logging and salinity. Sources said that the twin menace was causing mass poverty and forcing farmers to migrate to cities as environment and natural resources get degraded. The severity of the problem demand action by the government, ADB and UNDP which were willing to provide financial and technical assistance.

The problem of water-logging and salinity was resulting not only in declining incomes but also in degrading environment, deteriorating health, natural resource base and worsening livelihood conditions thus causing rural to urban migration.

Initially, Rs1 billion were being earmarked to address the water-logging and salinity problem through awareness and participation of community and enhance rural incomes through a facilitating mechanism based on community organizations, capacity building of farmers, adoption of technological interventions with limited financing assistance, marketing support, strengthening linkages among district government departments, research organizations and private sector.

The main constraints to improve salt-affected and water-logged lands were said to be low income, limited fresh water supply and poorly functional drainage system and inadequate awareness of farmers about bio-saline agriculture. Also, rigid social structure based on caste and gender biased principles, which limit communities to jointly address their common problem and weak institutional arrangements for transfer of technology to end users were also considered to be vital constraints to improve the situation.

Salt-affected and water-logged lands of three district of Punjab — Sargodha, Jhang and Hafizabad — were taken as an example. A total of 174,906 and 4,765 hectares of land were affected by salts and water-logging, respectively, in the three target districts.

Through a four-year programme, priorities would be identified with a view to expanding employment opportunities, reducing poverty through an integrated approach in income generation and access to development programmes, ensuring greater self-reliance in food, energy and public finance, conserving natural resources and protection of environment.

There was a decreasing trend in poverty in Pakistan during 1970s and 1980s which were reversed in the 1990s. Its incidence increased from 26.6 per cent in 1992-93 to 32.2 per cent in 1998-99. However, the incident of rural poverty, the sources said, continued to increase for which the government was taking steps to address the natural resource management problems associated with lack of irrigation water, increasing salinity and water-logging, small farmers’ financial constraints and their limited access to support services.