SHANGLA: Growers have complained about dysfunctional irrigation system and said they had to rely on rains to grow crops, so low rainfall caused low productions.

They told Dawn that the damaged irrigation channels coupled with delayed rains and growing fertiliser and seed prices were turning fertile lands barren.

The farmers said most irrigation channels in the district, including the main Bisham tehsil, had been dysfunctional for around a decade.

“I used to get three tons of wheat and corn from my agricultural lands 12 years ago but crops are no more grown there due to the diversion of water from the Khan Khwar (river) to a 72 megawatts power project as well as the broken irrigation channels,” said Bisham resident Rozi Shah.

Growers say low rainfall causing low productions

He said all three major irrigation channels of the area had long been in bad shape with the relevant authorities continuing to ignore requests for their repairs.

Dr Bahr-i-Karam of Damorai area in Kana tehsil said his family used to grow wheat, corn and rice on its land but that was no more the case as water unavailability over the years had rendered it barren.

He complained about low rainfall and said limited water was there to irrigate agricultural lands.

Another local farmer, Mohammad Ali, said wheat, rice and corn crops grown by his family on its land used to be its main source of livelihood but the land’s barrenness over the years had forced it to buy them from the market for own consumption.

He said the irrigation channels in Damorai, Kekor, Olandar were damaged by the 2010 flash floods but they had neither been inspected or repaired ever since.

“We even formally requested NGOs for repairs, but to no avail,” he said.

The grower insisted that the district was self-sufficient in food production.

The irrigation department’s records show that the 2020-21 Annual Development Programme had Rs75 million projects of flood protection works, irrigation channels and installation of solar tubewells.

When contacted, assistant commissioner Muneeba Fatima insisted that the irrigation department didn’t have an office in the district, so most problems of the local growers stayed unresolved.

She, however, claimed that the irrigation department had been ‘engaged’ for the resolution of those issues.

“Shangla was declared a district in 1995, so the streamlining of its affairs will take time,” she said.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2022