WHILE agriculture has been devolved to the provinces following the passage of 18th amendment, irrigation department, according to farmers, lacks an efficient system to help increase farm productivity.
Representatives of two bodies of growers – Sindh Chamber of Agriculture (SCA) and Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB) - have made their concerns about the depleting irrigation system known to the Sindh government. In proposals to Sindh Finance Minister Murad Ali Shah and Sindh Revenue Minister Jam Mehtab Dahar, at a recent meeting in Karachi, they said irrigation should get priority in budgetary allocation.
The Sindh government has spent Rs17 billion on the rehabilitation of irrigation channels after the super floods of 2010 and devastating rains of 2011, which dealt a severe blow to an already fragile irrigation system in the province.
“We need an efficient irrigation system. It should be top priority of the government in the coming budget from our point of view,” argues Mehmood Nawaz Shah, SAB general secretary. Sindh is likely to face a rough monsoon season this year again. Distributaries, branches and watercourses carrying water to farmland need to be rehabilitated, he says.
“The government should continue to provide tractors to growers at subsidised rates in the next coming budget also, pleads Shah. He urges lining of water courses under on-farm water management programme preferring NPIW method.
The withholding tax on cotton recovered by ginners has not been deposited in government’s kitty. Such tax should be done away with, heproposes.
He says that computerisation of revenue record and credit financing is another grey area in the agriculture sector. The provincial revenue department has not been able, over the past several years, to computerise revenue records. Since the transfer of agriculture land is complicated and cumbersome, most farmers avoid it. And consequently they fail to get their lands transferred in their names, and as such do not qualify to apply for the much-needed credit, he adds.
The growers argue that Sindh’s share in farm credit should be around 23 per cent. However, in terms of credit financing, the province gets only 10 per cent credit. Sindh’s farmers should be facilitated to get credit financing.
The province has surplus wheat. But growers complain that prices remain low due to flawed procurement policy. The province doesn’t have a proper storage facility. He says that while trade with India is being promoted, it should not be a one-sided traffic. Exports of tomato and onion have been allowed. The government needs to examine what agricultural commodities could be exported to India. “Mango season in India precedes our mango harvest in Sindh, and it is a big area that can be explored for trade when we are exporting mangoes,” he says.
Sindh Chamber of Agriculture president Dr Nadeem Qamar believes that along with placing rehabilitation of irrigation system on the top of priorities list, the government should keep water conservation in mind. “Why doesn’t the government seriously consider sprinkler and drip irrigation systems for the province? I believe that these systems should be locally manufactured to make them cost effective.
The government should provide funds for agriculture research. “To have a better per acre yield, we need to concentrate on agriculture research and quality seeds. We usually get seed from Punjab and then there is the issue of adulteration of pesticides which remains unresolved despite government’s oft-repeated claims of curbing these practices,” he says.
Farmers complain that there is no research on drought-resistant and low delta sugarcane varieties. Existing production of sugarcane does not meet the requirement of all the 33 sugar mills of the province. Farmers need to be trained and educated about modern agriculture practices to overcome all these issues.