LAHORE: Water shortage is on the rise in the country as the ratio of availability of per capita water has come down to an alarming level of around 900 cubic metres from 5650 cubic metres in 1951.

As the agricultural sector consumes over 90 per cent of the surface and subsoil water, a small saving in this sector will transform into a huge water saving. Punjab has already enacted a law to govern all surface water bodies and subsoil water, and is now working on introducing smart agriculture and efficient use of the available water with the support of institutions like the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Pakistan.

IWMI and Punjab Irrigation Department have jointly launched a pilot project in Okara district aimed at not only to promote water-efficient farming but also check the level and quality of subsoil water in the area.

Automated soil moisture sensors and Leaf Area Index meters are being installed for automatic online soil moisture monitoring and assessing crop water requirements, while 50 Conductivity, Temperature and Depth (CTD) Divers are being commissioned in various areas of Okara under the project.

Jehanzeb Masud Cheema, a researcher at IWMI, says the soil moisture sensor is a cost-effective and user-friendly intervention that helps a farmer in knowing when and how much to irrigate his crops and orchards. These modern devices, he says, are needed to grow more crops per drop of water and thus overcome the intensifying water shortage.

They have also recommended the Irrigation Department specific locations for the deployment of CTD divers to collect real-time data on groundwater quality and quantity to support effective groundwater management in the district.

Dr Habibullah Habib, Director, On Farm Water Management Research Farm, Okara, says the farmers need to benefit from laser land levelers and adopt furrow as well as drip irrigation systems to get increased crop water productivity through limited water resources.

He says because of the widely-practiced flood-irrigation method Pakistani farmers use 2500 litres of water to get one kilogram of wheat against the world standard of consuming 900 litres for the purpose.

Dr Habib says that flood irrigation is 60 per cent efficient in crop productivity, while furrow irrigation is 85pc.

To improve crop productivity, he urges farmers to use laser land levelers each year so that equal water reaches to every corner of fields.

Published in Dawn, June 27th, 2023