MIRPURKHAS, Oct 21: Wheat sowing has started in the district amidst acute shortage of irrigation water, especially in Jhuddo taluka.

However, shortage of irrigation water has adversely affected wheat sowing particularly in Mirpurkhas, Umerkot, Sanghar and Tharparkar districts because these areas are situated in the tail-end of Nara canal's command area, cultivating more than three million acres.

At present, 10,000 cusecs of water was being supplied to Nara canal against the requirement of 16,000 cusecs.

Mirpurkhas district produces more chilli, mango, onion, cotton, wheat, sugarcane and sunflower than other areas of the province but unfortunately its growers suffer greatly due to unavailability of irrigation water in the tail-end areas.

Last year, Mirpurkhas district was given a target of wheat sowing on 63,000 hectares which was surpassed and the commodity was sown on about 64,180 hectares. This year no wheat target has been so far been set, however many growers have started sowing wheat in Jhuddo.

Irrigation department has also started a rotation programme to manage water shortage while more than 50 distributaries and minors are running dry in the command area of Nara canal under the rotation programme.

Chairman of Farmers Organisation Council Sindh Javed Ahmed Junejo and vice-president of Sindh Abadgar Board'd Mirpurkhas chapter Haji Abdul Ghafoor Maher advocate have condemned irrigation authorities for releasing less water into Nara canal.

Talking to this correspondent, they demanded that Sindh chief minister, irrigation minister, secretary irrigation and director of Nara Canal should take immediate measures to release more water into the Nara canal according to its requirement.

An official of the irrigation department said that less water was being supplied to the canal from Sukkur Barrage as a result of which tail-end areas were facing a 50 per cent water shortage.