ISLAMABAD, Nov 25: Despite favourable soil conditions, irrigation system, water and climate, yield per acre in Pakistan is one of the lowest in the world.

This was observed by Mian Hafiz Ullah, member Indus River System Authority (IRSA), Punjab in his report on “ Water Management Authority”.

It is slightly less than India and 50 per cent less than Egypt and other developed countries. Consequently, majority of the farmers live at or below poverty line.

The IRSA member said, “Pakistan is predominantly an agricultural country. Almost 26 per cent of the GDP, 70 per cent export and 52 per cent labour force is contributed by this sector”.

The country is dependent on agriculture for food and fibre requirements for ever increasing population. In order, to cope with these requirements it is essential to increase food and fibre production not only for self-sufficiency but also for export to earn foreign exchange.

Pakistan is under heavy debt burden, 50 per cent of its annual revenue is taken away by debt servicing and it cannot afford luxury of importing food.

On the average, he said one meter water is provided per cultivable acre for agriculture per year, according to our present diversion of water from the rivers. This is further reduced by about 48 per cent during conveyance and the net delivered below the outlet, is reduced to half a metre per acre per year which is quite inadequate for the arid and semi-arid climate of Pakistan.

This has to be supplemented by other source such as tubewell, rain etc. The quality of tubewell water has become questionable for many areas and has given rise to secondary salinization of soils, he emphasised.

He said that for proper maintenance of agriculture regime of soil it has to be mixed with adequate quantity of canal water for use in irrigation. Rainfall has failed for the second consecutive year and that is not a dependable source.

Commenting on the water resource management, he said, inadequate irrigation supply is one of the major constraints in agriculture production.

The irrigation supplies can be improved in two ways: Exploiting new resources, construction of more dams and tubewells and conserving the existing irrigation supplies by available water efficiently through reduction of undue wastage such as seepage/leakage, over-spilling and over-irrigation.