LAHORE, Jan 4: More than 70 per cent of tubewells in the province are pumping out brackish water that is reducing the crop yield and damaging the soil.

This was stated by Mr Mushtaq Gill, the director-general of Water Management Wing of the Punjab Agriculture Department, here on Friday. He was briefing provincial Agriculture Minister Khurshid Zaman Qureshi on the department’s plans to treat water for better crops.

There are around 565,000 tubewells in the country and, of them, about 500,000 are in the Punjab.

The DG said the department was running a project that can treat water with sulphuric acid and turn it into sweet water. This treated water would not only increase per acre yield but also lower salt level in the soil. Experiments have shown that by treating water, per acre yield of wheat was increased from 13 maund per acre to 35, he said.

Mr Gill said laser levelling of soil was another project being run by the department at different farms. The soil could be levelled plus and minus one inch by this technology that would save a lot of water going waste and help increase production. The technology has been indigenized and cost much less than its original price.

The government could facilitate farmers by issuing loans for such equipment and help national economy. Industrialists could also be involved in maximizing production of laser levellers, he concluded.