Barrage fiasco can recur, warn farmers

The Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB) has warned that ongoing negligence in maintenance of the irrigation infrastructure, specially the barrages, cannot be allowed to continue as not only the agricultural economy but that of the entire country is at stake.

A meeting of the board, chaired by Senior Vice President Mahmood Nawaz Shah at SAB's office in Hyderabad on Sunday, noted that though the damaged Sukkur Barrage was made operational in nine days, the episode did hurt the agro economy.

"The more important question, however, is to understand that lack of maintenance and transparency in the development works on the barrages cannot continue," Shah emphasized. According to him, damage to Sukkur Barrage's structure would not affect just around eight million acres of land in its command area, but also Kotri Barrage's command downstream.

According to him, the province's 80% agricultural fields are irrigated by these two barrages. "These two barrages will not only impact the agriculture sector but also have a spiralling negative effect on the industrial sector and exports," Shah warned, pointing out that the textile sector and the food exports will be specifically hit if such a scenario happened to develop.

The farmers at the meeting said the incident of collapse of two gates of Sukkur Barrage should be considered eye opener by the government because it concerns not only the farmers but the country's economy as a whole.

The SAB recommended measures to the government to switch to the latest technology which is currently in operation of the barrages globally.

That technology included sensors and telemetry for effective monitoring and operation of barrages. The growers said the help of artificial intelligence to monitor weather and water level is also becoming indispensable for efficiency.

Mango exports

The mango growers at the meeting expressed resentment over the federal government's policy for allowing early exports of mangoes at a time when fruit was still immature. They pointed out that Sindhri variety of mangoes, which is globally famous, ripened by early June but the government started exports from May 20 owing to which the farmers felt compelled to harvest mangoes by May 15 onwards.

The early plucking of mangoes did not allow the fruit to develop proper sweetness, colour and natural flavour. The farmers expressed worry that such an occurrence, consequently, will reduce interest in Pakistan mangoes in the international markets, leading to a drop in future exports.

According to the farmers, as a result of such an export policy mango price in Sindh dropped from Rs6,500 per 40 kilogram to Rs3,500 in June. The meeting, nevertheless, acknowledged that the government alone cannot resolve this issue which required concerted efforts by the growers, contractors and exporters besides the government to find a solution.

Dr Zulfiqar Yousfani, Dr Bashir Nizamani, Mohammed Aslam Mari, Imran Bozdar, Taha Memon, Ali Mardan Shah, Murad Ali Shah Bukerai, Kazi Mohsin and other growers attended the meeting.