FARMERS are busy preparing their nurseries for paddy cultivation in Sindh, while the civil administration is trying to strictly enforce the ban on the sowing of rice on the left bank of the Indus in line with a law enacted in 1959.

The situation is different for the growing of paddy this year. While a notification for enforcing the ban has been issued every year, it was not strictly enforced and farmers succeeded in ‘illegally’ sowing the crop.

The authorities in Ghotki, where the area under paddy has increased to hundreds of thousands of acres, have confirmed that paddy nurseries are not being allowed. The civil administration is not only stopping the preparation of nurseries, but also the selling of seeds.

The West Pakistan Rice (Restriction on Cultivation) Ordinance 1959 has been invoked to ban paddy cultivation in the command areas of the Ghotki feeder of the Guddu Barrage and the Rohri and Nara canals of the Sukkur Barrage. The ban also applies to non-perennial canals in the command areas of Kotri Barrage.

Final estimates of the Sindh agriculture department show that the area under paddy cultivation has recorded a constant increase since 2007-08, except for 2008-09 and 2010-11, when the province was hit by super floods. From 733,463ha in 2008-09, the area has grown to 781,679ha in 2014-15, exceeding its target of 700,000ha by 11.7pc.

Ghotki has sown the crop on 47,710ha, Khairpur 8,617ha, Sukkur 9,477ha, Naushahro Feroze 9,185ha Nawbashah 10,751ha, Sanghar 6,457ha, Mirpurkhas 4,439ha, Matiari 959ha and Tando Allahyar 906ha in 2014-15. Put together, paddy was collectively sown on 99,000ha, or 243,000 acres, in these areas.

To cover up irregularities, irrigation and revenue department officers come up with incorrect figures to prove that

the ban is effective

But the farmers and the officials believe that the acreage estimates are usually underreported. The paddy crop has mainly encroached upon the area reserved for cotton. If the ban is effectively enforced this year, the area vacated will be available for cotton or some short-duration crop.

A grower in Ghotki district, Qazi Abdul Sattar, pointed out that he had sown paddy on 150 acres last year, and he was unable to prepare the nursery this year for fear of legal action. He also claimed that at least 250,000 acres were under the crop’s cultivation until last year, disputing the agriculture department’s figures of 117,891 acres.

To hide irregularities, irrigation and revenue department officers come up with incorrect figures to prove that the ban is effective. According to an agriculture officer, crop estimates are shared at different forums of the Sindh government, but they are rarely analysed critically to see if they are supported by the recovery of dhul and abiyana by the revenue and irrigation departments respectively.

“The ban was never enforced 100pc, and it won’t b enforced now. Only figures will be presented to claim that the ban was enforced,” said Idris Rajput, a former irrigation secretary.

He added that the situation was better in the 1970s and 1980s, when the violation of the ban on paddy cultivation was only marginal; so it was often overlooked. Now, it is purposely done to benefit the big landowners, who get water by hook or by crook. “The sowing figures are always underreported by about 50pc.”

Mirpurkhas Commissioner Shafiq Mahesar said paddy nurseries in Sindhri, a part of Mirpurkhas, were destroyed. A similar claim was made by Sukkur DC Faisal Shahzad, who said nurseries were destroyed in the Rohri taluka of Sukkur.

Officials say the purpose of the ban is to save the land from water-logging, as rice requires an enormous amount of water. Upper Sindh farmers in areas of the Indus’ left bank have been sowing paddy owing to the unavailability of water in late April or early May for sowing cotton. When water flows are finally assured, they opt for the irri variety of paddy or sugarcane.

But this is mostly done at the cost of the canal tail-end farmers, who keep waiting for their turn to sow crops. Powerful landowners having land in the upper reaches of the canals cultivate paddy by tampering water-courses due to the weak oversight of water distribution.

Last season, 2.6m tonnes of paddy were produced, against the target of 2.2m tonnes.

Surprisingly, the sowing targets for the kharif season have not yet been fixed by the Sindh government.

The cultivation of cotton has been completed in lower Sindh in the absence of any officially announced target.

Published in Dawn, Economic & Business, June 1st, 2015

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