CHITRAL: The pipe irrigation system has proved to a game changer for the residents of Mominabad area of Upper Yarkhun valley here.

The villagers said the area used to be acutely deficient in irrigation and drinking water due to drying up of natural springs.

Rahim Gul, Toti Bai, Gul Sambar Khan and others told Dawn that the villagers were at the verge of mass migration due to scarcity of water when the pipe irrigation scheme was launched by Aga Khan Rural Support Programme under its Central Asian Poverty Programme.

They said the project got completed three years ago, improving their financial conditions vertically as they had brought all their lands under cultivation.

They said the gravity flow pipe irrigation scheme connected the village with the stream of Khushro Gol at a distance of 8,500 feet, which was not possible for the poverty-stricken villagers on self-help basis.

The villagers said they had grown fruit orchards, including that of cherry, apricot, apple, pear and peach, bringing additional income to them. They said they also grew non-fruit plants for fuel wood, which they purchased from the nearby villages.

The women said they were also happy as their labour of fetching water for daily consumption from the river at a distance of one mile has come to an end thanks to the irrigation project.

Najma Bibi, Nazira, Sabira and others said they had started growing vegetables on commercial scale due to the availability of irrigation water and earned hard cash by selling it, and supplementing the household income.

They said they had started to grow fodder crops, enabling them to start livestock keeping in large numbers, as before the project, they used to raise only one cow in household, but the number has now tripled apart from rearing sheep, goats and poultry.

The women said that the project had enabled them to contribute to the household income on a par with that of men as they would be able to start cottage industry as well apart from growing vegetables and livestock keeping.

They also reported improvement of their health by consuming the spring water after abandoning the use of contaminated water of the river.

Published in Dawn, March 25th, 2024