Thal Canal closure may hit wheat crop

The Thal Canal has been closed for 15 days for annual maintenance. The canal, which supplies about 6,000 cusecs of water, will be closed entirely by January 13 due to which the tributaries will also be closed, affecting the wheat crop.

The canal originates from the Jinnah barrage at Daudkhel and irrigates the districts of Mianwali, Khushab, Bhakar, Layyah, and Sargodha in Punjab.

The water from the canal plays an important role in increasing the productivity of the wheat crop, which in turn is important for the development of the country. Farmers were of the view that if the annual closure schedule was done after the wheat harvest, the growers could produce enough wheat to make the country self-sufficient.

Farmers who are already worried about the non-availability of fertilisers are now facing even more difficulties as the Thal Canal will also be closed.

The closure of the canal, the biggest in Asia, will also adversely affect canola and sugarcane crops on thousands of acres of land in five districts. The farmers are forced to install tube wells at high costs.

Thousands of farmers from Mianwali and the surrounding areas have requested Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi that the timing of the annual repair of the canal should be changed.

Aggrieved farmers will now also have to tackle the urea fertiliser shortage as a fertiliser factory's plant which used to produce 1,050 tons of urea per day, was shut down due to a gas outage.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2023.