HYDERABAD, March 10: Three programmes are being launched to improve the irrigation system in the province, said a Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority official in Badin on Tuesday.

The programmes are modernization of channels of farmers' organizations, revamping/lining of channels and rehabilitation of distributaries and branches under the World Bank-funded Sindh On-Farm Water Management Programme.

Talking to chairmen and members of farmers' organizations of the Left Bank Canal Area Water Board at a consultation workshop, Sida acting managing director Prof Aijaz Ahmad Qureshi said under rehabilitation and on-farm management programmes, 35 channels would be improved in the next two to three years in the Badin district.

He urged growers to participate in the SIDA programme so that they could benefit from the schemes. He observed that growers would be the backbone of the system being introduced in the country.

Mr Qureshi advised officials of the irrigation department and Sida and growers to work together to cover the present transitory phase successfully. He asked growers of Badin to cooperate with the staff of the area water board and its farmers' organizations in the payment of Abyana for the current year.