Water shortage to result in agricultural losses worth billions

Sindh Abadgar Board demands that taxes on farmers in districts facing shortages be waived.

HYDERABAD:

The water shortage at Kotri Barrage is likely to affect cultivation of crops in five districts in southern Sindh, which will result in a loss of billions of rupees, claims the Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB).

The board members held a press conference on Monday to demand that Thatta, Sajawal, Matli, Badin and Tando Muhammad Khan districts be declared calamity-hit areas so that the taxes on the famers are waived.

“Some 40,000 tons of rice seed, worth around Rs4 billion, will go to waste,” said SAB president Abdul Majeed Nizamani. “This is aside from the other losses such as expected profits and input costs.”

The water discharge at Kotri Barrage for the past 10 days was recorded at 14,015 cusecs against the fixed seasonal quota of 33,800 cusecs. Four canals spring from the barrage, three of which supply water to these five districts and Hyderabad. The fourth canal, Kalri Baglihar Feeder, supplies water to Karachi through the Dhabeji filtration plant.



The command area of the former three canals, which includes two non-perennial canals, is around 2.5 million acres. The loss of cultivation, estimated by the board, will be proportionate to the reduced water supply.

According to Nizamani, the shortfall is caused by unfair water distribution between Punjab and Sindh as well as excessive water losses between the Guddu and Sukkur barrages in the upper Sindh region. “The distance between Guddu and Sukkur is hardly around 100 miles while that of Sukkur to Kotri is 200 miles,” he said. “However, leakages and losses of 20,000 cusecs are shown between Guddu and Sukkur, almost three times higher than in the downstream barrages,” he said suggesting water theft by the irrigation officials.

According to the Indus River System Authority, Guddu barrage released 89,000 cusecs for Sukkur Barrage on June 15 but the latter got only 67,000 cusecs, showing 22,000 cusecs lost. The losses between Sukkur and Kotri were 8,885 cusecs.

The SAB representatives said that the Sindh government could not construct water reservoirs and preserve fresh water lakes to ensure water supply during the time of shortage. The growers demanded that the government waive taxes and loans, and provide adequate subsidy to the affected farmers. Maj (R) Umer Farooq, Sadiq Ali Shah and other farmers’ representatives were also present.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2014.