WITH Pakistan’s population projected to cross 221 million in the next five years, the country will have to take on some serious challenges, including a jump of nearly 50 per cent in national food demand.

This additional food demand can be met by increasing crop yield and expanding irrigated area, wherever opportunities exist.

Punjab fulfils about 80pc of the country’s food requirements, and irrigated agriculture accounts for 28pc of the provincial GDP. It manages an existing irrigation system serving 8.4m hectares (around 21m acres) of irrigated land.

To meet the increasing food demand of the country, Punjab needs to further exploit its untapped natural resources, particularly in the arid lands of the province.

The project will help address the challenge of food insecurity, improve economic growth and alleviate poverty in affected areas

Provincial authorities are going to execute the Jalalpur Irrigation Project (JIP), located along the right bank of Jhelum river and conceived more than a century ago.

The groundbreaking ceremony was scheduled to be held on Dec 13, but it had to be postponed to Dec 28 because no one from the senior political leadership was available or interested in joining the inauguration.

Costing around $275m and funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the JIP will create non-perennial irrigation services to increase agricultural production on 200,000 acres in Pind Dadan Khan tehsil of Jhelum district situated in the foothills of the famous Salt Range and part of the adjacent Khushab district.

Starting from the right bank of Rasul barrage, at least 200km new irrigation canals will be constructed for the Jalalpur canal command area with the ADB loan facility to be paid back in 20 years, including a five-year grace period. The funds will also be used for introducing institutional reforms and establishing farmers’ organisations as well as building their capacity.

Proponents argue the Jalalpur project will increase Kharif crop’s intensity in its command area by 50pc, improve crop yield and reduce land degradation, thus directly benefiting about 300,000 rural people. Moreover, drinking water will also be supplied to 26 villages, including the Khewra town and a nearby cement factory.

The project will help address the challenge of food insecurity, improve economic growth and alleviate poverty in areas affected where the continuous use of brackish water for agricultural and drinking purposes has led to human health problems and low crop yield. Through the new irrigation canals and their related structures, the JIP will have a positive impact on the agricultural production and health of the area people.

The JIP “will be a real game-changer for the mostly poor population of the arid area like the Kachhi canal in Balochistan”, says Punjab Irrigation Minister Mohsin Leghari. “Every drop of water will add to the income of poor farming families as well as contribute to both provincial and national GDP.”

The project was conceived more than a century ago. Irrigation department’s archives show that the project was on the cards since 1898, when construction work of the Rasul headworks on Jhelum river was executed. The divide wall of the headworks was built at that time for future construction of Jalalpur canal.

The provision for constructing Jalalpur canal was again made during the reconstruction of Rasul barrage in 1967 under the Indus Water Treaty, and a bridge for crossing the so-far-unconstructed canal was made available to the traffic using M-II portion of the motorway near the Lillah interchange in Jhelum district.

The JIP was approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council in February 2018 by the PML-N government. Mr Leghari says the PTI-led government has expedited the project’s execution.

He points out that other than improving agriculture and potable water supplies, the project will also cast other socio-economic impacts on the area. “The real estate value of the lands will increase manifold when the area will be fed from canals instead of rains. Moreover, construction activities for the Jalalpur canal and its distributaries and watercourses will also create jobs and small-time side businesses for the locals,” he says.

The government also plans to establish 664 demonstration farms on selected pieces of land with the help of the agriculture department, and provide advisory services and training to at least 6,000 farm households about high-value agriculture, Mr Leghari adds.

The Punjab government is also planning to execute second and third phases of the Thal Canal Project soon to irrigate 294,110 acres of desert areas, mainly in Bhakkar and Layyah districts. The first phase of the project has already been completed by the Water and Power Development Authority.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, December 23rd, 2019