KARACHI, a growing metropolis, has many villages, fruit gardens and agricultural farms. At the time of independence, the population of the city was about 0.3 million excluding hundreds of villages in the suburbs, which otherwise were an organic part of the city. The countryside fulfilled the city's needs of vegetables and fruits etc., and also provided facility for recreation to city inhabitants, especially on weekends.

The Karachi Municipal Board had dug 30 wells at Dumloti in Malir to supply potable water to the city. Farmlands were mainly irrigated by wells, reinvigorated by the two major seasonal rivers Malir and Lyari and their tributaries.

Although the development of the city and the growing urbanisation have swallowed up many of the villages, the city still gets about 10 per cent,(down from 70 per cent till 1985), of the demand for fruits and vegetables from these rural areas.

According to the latest figures the total area under cultivation in Karachi is 50,352 hectares. It is irony that the people in these villages have benefited very little from the development of Karachi in more than half century in terms of education, health and other civic facilities.

Only in Gadap town about 750 villages are without gas and 350 villages without electricity when the same facilities are available only a short distance away. Animals and humans drink water from same ponds that is not fit for consumption.

The influx of migrants, urbanisation and indifference of the government functionaries has forced the farmers to convert their agricultural plots into residential and commercial plots mainly because of water shortage. One main reason for water shortage is the excessive sand and gravel excavation especially from the Malir river bed to supply the construction materials to the market. The ban on lifting bajri has remained ineffective.

The modern Karachi has been built at the cost of the livelihood of the rural people. The global warming has also caused climatic change. The rainfall pattern in the city has changed drastically since 1985, decreasing its frequency and intensity. Now the city experiences regular and prolonged spell of drought. This has resulted in drought in underground water levels. The irrigation of these agricultural lands is usually done through wells. But now water, which was previously available at a depth of 20-30 feet, is accessed at 400-500 feet below the surface.

The situation has been further aggravated by excessive water extraction from ground water aquifers. Apart from this, high temperatures evaporate the rain water quickly leaving the underground water level dry.

Most wells in the area have dried up or their water has become brackish. According to a study, 20 per cent of the wells are at their lowest level while the remaining has become brackish. Another effect of the lowering of ground water level is the advance of sea water which causes salinity, due to which land turns barren. Although some 'check dams have been built at Thuddo( North-East of Super Highway) and other places, they meet the needs of only a very limited area.

Slowly and gradually the situation is getting serious and in some cases assuming famine proportion in some areas. For instance most suburban areas of Keamari town have received no rain for past few years (barring recent downpour) which has rendered many fields barren, and cattle, the main source of livelihood of the people of the area, are without fodder. According to the inhabitants of the area about one-fourth of the total animals have died. As the people have no other alternative means of livelihood and depend on agriculture and livestock, they have been forced to live below poverty line and the area is rapidly turning into a desert..

Another problem is that fruits and vegetables produced in the city suburbs now cost more than those coming from Badin, Thatta, Sajawal, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Tandojam and even Rahimyar Khan. It is highly priced due to water shortage and extensive labour required to grow crop in semi-arid environment. To add to this problem, previous Sindh government had raised land tax from Rs50 per acre to Rs300 per acre. Although the present government has promised to review rates, nothing has happened so far.