LOW rainfall due to changing climatic pattern, a steep 200-foot drop in subsoil water table and reduced river inflows have cut the per-capita availability of water from 5,000 to 900 cubic metres in the country during the last seven decades. The result is that Pakistan is now on the brink of falling in the category of water-deficient states.

Around 60 per cent shortage of water at rim stations in Punjab, the grain bowl of the country, has posed a serious challenge to the ongoing sowing for Kharif crops.

The Metrological Department says that catchment areas have received 50pc less snow this year; this suggests the situation is not going to improve any time soon. This has sent alarm bells ringing for food security and agriculture authorities, who have had to find a reliable and durable solution to the worsening crisis like introducing efficient irrigation systems, and at the earliest.

No contingency plan is going to make amends, as water shortage is too severe this time around. Meanwhile, the reins of the country will be handed over within a week to a caretaker set-up, which will definitely lack political will and capacity, both technically and legally, to take appropriate long-term corrective measures at a time when such steps are needed the most.

Punjab has in the past introduced some steps like offering incentives for promoting highly efficient irrigation systems to mitigate water woes, though the situation was not as harsh then as it is now

Moreover, as the Punjab government has not presented its budget for the next fiscal year owing to political objections and legal complications, the sector failed to see a policy and plan of action for tackling water crisis and allocating sufficient funds to achieve the target. Therefore, irrigation and agriculture authorities are so far relying on decisions taken in the past.

Punjab has in the past introduced some steps like offering incentives for promoting Highly Efficient Irrigation Systems (HEIS) — such as drip and sprinkler modes of irrigation — to mitigate water woes, though the situation was not as harsh then as it is now.

The provincial government offered to pay 60pc installation cost of drip and sprinkler systems for farmers who own up to 15 acres. The remaining cost was contributed by the beneficiaries.

Punjab’s On-Farm Water Management Director-General Akram Malik says the province is facing severe shortage of irrigation water for many years now, while there is inefficient use of available resources. The phenomenon is resulting in much lower agricultural productivity from highly productive resource base of the province. “HEISs have been found to be the most appropriate option to address various crop production issues, as they are water- and nutrient-efficient,” he says.

Drip irrigation, also called trickle or micro-irrigation, is the most efficient technology that makes highly effective use of water, fertilisers, and nutrients by applying water and other inputs slowly, regularly and frequently as close to the plant roots as possible through emitters installed on plastic pipes laid out in the field, he says.

Through the subsidy scheme, the department managed to introduce drip irrigation at 20,000 acres in the last two years, while sprinklers for gram cultivation were installed at 400 acres in just one year, he says.

But the rate at which the technology is being adopted remains slow. “So far 37,000 acres, most of them meant for highly value-added crops, have been brought under drip irrigation system in the province despite all efforts,” bemoans an official of the agriculture department. To put this in context, total agriculture land spreads over 3.5 million acres.

There are reasons behind the slow rate of adoption. Mian Umair, a central leader of the Pakistan Kisan Ittehad, says the government is offering the drip irrigation system at Rs20,000 per acre while one may get the same structure and services from a private company at half the rate.

Therefore, farmers are hesitant to accept the government’s offer and appeasing those at the helms of affairs for getting sanctioned the subsidy, and then going through all the hassle of meeting documentary requirements of the government while they haven’t yet internalised the benefits of the new mode of irrigation, he adds.

There are also some practical problems associated with the technology, as the companies installing new irrigation systems have not yet introduced their dealers and/or representatives network in major towns of the province.

Amer Chaudhry, a progressive farmer of Okara, says that he had got the drip irrigation system installed at his fields two years ago. The system developed fault a few months after the installation, he says, and recalls that the troubles he had to go through for making the installation company in Lahore to send its team of mechanics and rectify it, as no local professional was available to do the job.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, May 28th, 2018