Water shortfall faced by Rabi crops to ease in Nov

IRSA informs Senate panel about water situation in mega reservoirs

ISLAMABAD: About 38% water shortfall is expected in the Rabi sowing season owing to below normal rainfall in the last monsoon season.

This was revealed by the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) in a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research on Wednesday.

The meeting, chaired by Senator Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah, was told that the situation would improve and water shortfall would be reduced by November and December as rainfall was expected during these months.

Irsa chairman briefed the committee about the current water situation in mega reservoirs, difficulties and implications for different cash crops in the current Rabi sowing season and the required remedial measures.



The committee was also informed that during the last Kharif season, the agriculture sector had faced 35-45% water shortage, which resulted in reduction in cultivated area for different crops, particularly the cotton crop, which is the major cash crop of the season.

In Kharif season, Sindh faced 15% water shortage against its allocated share, Punjab faced 20% shortage, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 34% and Balochistan 41%.

The Irsa chairman told the meeting that water availability was recorded at 4.899 million acre feet (maf) in the season against 6.896maf in the same period of last year.

Currently, water availability in mega reservoirs including Tarbela was recorded at 2.690maf compared to 3.025maf last year, Mangla 2.116maf compared to 3.846maf last year and Chashma 0.093maf against 0.0093maf last year, he added.



Meanwhile, Cotton Commissioner Dr Khalid Abdullah apprised the meeting that due to water issues, the area under cotton crop and expected output of the crop were drastically reduced. The harvest is estimated at 10.847 million bales against the target of 14.370 million bales.

Abdullah said water supply for irrigation from April to July 2018 was 31.273maf against last year’s 42.191maf, showing a shortfall of 10.92maf compared to last year.

The committee expressed serious concern over the poor performance of Pakistan Agriculture Research Council and National Agriculture Research Centre. It asked their chairmen to submit details of the seed varieties developed there.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 11^th, 2018.

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