While a fourth consecutive drought may hit Tharparkar’s crop and livestock sectors this year, the draft Sindh Drought Management and Mitigation Policy 2014 has been awaiting the provincial government’s approval for a year.

After the third successive drought last year, the Sindh government took some initiatives like setting up reverse osmosis (RO) plants for drinking water and proposed the establishment of the Thar Development Authority to show its commitment to Thar’s residents. Some RO plants have been set up and more are in the pipeline.

But the policy document, lying with the provincial cabinet since last August, is yet to be approved.

This year again, the ideal time for the sowing of kharif crops like millet, cluster beans and sesame in the desert has almost passed without adequate rainfall. Belated rains in late August or early September don’t usually raise the crop productivity. If there are not enough monsoon rains by August 15, the fourth drought would eventually set in.

The district administration would then recommend that the government, as per procedural formalities, declare Thar a drought- or calamity-hit area.

Over the years, successive governments, both civil and military, addressed the drought issue largely by distributing relief items, but never responded with a development-based strategy.


Sindh’s arid region requires a paradigm shift from a relief-based effort to a consistent one to help the people diversify their sources of income by introducing saline agriculture: cultivating drought-tolerant plants and fodder


Sindh’s arid region requires a paradigm shift from a relief-based effort to a consistent effort to help the people diversify their sources of income by introducing saline agriculture, along with the cultivation of drought-tolerant plants and fodder. This would stop the vulnerable communities from migrating to barrage areas in search of food and livelihood.

Landholding in Tharparkar, according to the noted social activist Dr Sono Khangharani, varies from 2-18 acres, and the plentiful underground saline water reserves there need to be exploited. But successive governments concentrated on distributing just wheat. “It is a temporary relief and you can’t bank on it.”

Dr Sono points out that due to the continued drought, the land is exposed to degradation and desertification. And because of the vanishing vegetative cover, the land is facing soil erosion as well. “In such severe drought conditions, the soil’s fertility is impacted and its ability to give the desired productivity, even if there are timely rains, is compromised.”

He says the government should subsidise solar-powered tube-wells with magnet devices that would treat the salt concentration in the underground water. “With such treated water, orchards of guava, jujube, dates, cumin seed and lemon etc can be grown. However, sizeable funds are required for the installation of solar-powered tube-wells at the village level.”

Last year, the Sindh government had also formed a 22-member committee to come up with concrete proposals for drought mitigation, as the number of deaths among the malnourished newborns in Tharparkar increased.

Then, a seven-member core committee produced a detailed draft of the Sindh Drought Management and Mitigation Policy 2014. But the proposal is still awaiting the government’s approval, according to the ruling party’s MPA Sardar Shah, who is also a member of the committee.

Ali Akbar Rahimoon, another core committee member, maintains that saline agriculture (one of the policy’s focus areas) offers a sustainable solution to the people of Tharparkar. Normally, people in the desert consume water with 3,000-3,500 total dissolved solids (TDS), whereas water with 2,000TDS could easily be used for agriculture. Grass can be grown with water having 18,000TDS.

The draft policy calls for promoting agriculture with sweet and saline water and for a survey to assess the actual demand and the quantum of the existing water resources. It also proposes setting up a saline water research institute to suggest the kind of crop varieties that could be grown on saline water in Tharparkar.

The policy document also suggests the setting up of an arid/barani agriculture institute that will train farmers to grow crops that are drought-resistant and fit for cultivation with saline water. Besides, it proposes expanding the existing canal network system to Thar to supply irrigation water.

Published in Dawn, Economic & Business July 27th, 2015

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