Water woes: K-P farmers left high and dry

Villagers blame authorities for inadequate irrigation water, say they keep praying for rain.

PESHAWAR:

Farmers in Peshawar say poor management and improper distribution of irrigation water has deprived hundreds of acres of farmland.

They blamed Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s irrigation department for neglecting the needs of farmers in several villages and said the water scarcity had pitched them against each other.

According to them, watercourses responsible for irrigating around 1,200 acres of farmland from Sarband Canal are faulty and in debilitated state.

“These are very productive lands and provide a cheap and timely supply of vegetables and fruits to markets in Peshawar,” said Saifur Rehman, a retired civil servant, adding that “farmers now have to wait for rain for any yield.”

“The improper distribution system of irrigation water is yet to catch the attention of irrigation department officials,” maintained Aziz Khan, a 65-year-old farmer from Landi Yarghajo village.

Khan said the irrigation department suspends water supply from the Sarband Canal without any prior notice under the pretext of load-shedding and unavailability of diesel to power electric generators used to fill the canal up from the river. This leaves little water to use for irrigation purposes, he added.

Faqir Gul, Alif Gul, Niaz Muhammad, Inamullah, Ghulam Hassan, Haji Zabihullah, Mira Khan and Sabir Khan are all farmers from other surrounding villages also seeking the attention of concerned authorities.

“The water distribution system needs to be re-evaluated every 10 years, but for the last several decades, patwaris of the irrigation department have not conducted any survey for this purpose,” said Faqir.

“It is very painful for me and other farmers when our crops are in need of water and the irrigation department stops water supply. We either pray for rain or for water from the canal as it is the only way to keep our fields from becoming barren,” he added.



“Growing population leads to new settlements near unpaved water courses, often resulting in the illegal diversion of water flow. This becomes a reason for enmity among farmers on many occasions,” said Niaz Muhammad. “I have been waiting for the last several weeks to get a chance to water my cauliflower fields.”

He urged authorities to conduct a fresh survey of cultivable land and chalk out a new distribution system in order to ease growing tension among farmers.

Inamullah, a retired army official who now looks after his lands, said the area was earlier irrigated by the historical Bada Khwar stream flowing alongside Landi Akhond Ahmad and Achar villages. But water stopped flowing following the construction of Spera Dam, a small dam and irrigation project in Khyber Agency.

While affected farmers were provided an alternative in the shape of Sarband Canal, excessive load shedding means there is little or no electricity to power the water pumps of the low lying canal, said Inamullah. “Watercourses, as a result, are left high and dry.”

“Elected representatives from these areas all belong to the Awami National Party and Pakistan Peoples Party-led coalition government. They are least bothered about listening to our grievances despite huge financial losses every year.”

He said that agricultural lands are being provided water according to a water distribution list written decades ago, with no fresh outlook by authorities.

Farmers demanded sufficient and uninterrupted supply of water to their fields and said the five-kilometre long watercourse should be paved to avoid seeping.

Provincial minister for irrigation Ahmad Hussain was not available for comments despite repeated attempts.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 20^th, 2013.