Shoddy Canal system causes 40% wastage in Punjab

Shoddy Canal system causes 40% wastage in Punjab

Old and tawdry watercourses and canals have caused clean water wastage of 40 per cent in Punjab, leading to loss of agricultural productivity, says an official engaged in water management.

An engineer at the Water Management Department of Faisalabad, Khalid Mahmood, said Personals associated with farming bussniess in Punjab were facing multiple difficulties in exploring the real agricultural wealth despite vast land
resources and low water supply was among those problems and added that lack of resources was a hurdle in the way of improving the watercourses.

“If the wastage is controlled, agricultural productivity will increase manifold ensuring food security,” claimed the engineer at the Water Management Department of Faisalabad.

Farmers need an awareness drive, bank credit facility as well as advanced technology in order to give a boost to the agricultural sector.

Mahmood further said that old methods of harvesting and cultivation had brought down per lands return, which was 35 per cent lower compared with the productivity in developed countries.

A farmer in Faisalabad, Khaliq Ahmad, said “Increasing prices of inputs virtually leave nothing for farmers to invest in new technology.”

Tauheed Aslam, who is also involved in the business of farming also shared his views and said, “As storage capacity of dams is decreasing, per-acre water availability is also going down. This forces farmers to install tube wells
to irrigate their crops but that increases the cost of production.”

Rana Tauseef, Rana Textile Chief Executive Officer, said the agricultural sector carried much importance because it provided raw material to industrial units.

Muhammad Ajmal, a local farmer said, “Agricultural machinery is very expensive, which farmers cannot afford.”

The farmer further added that small farmers did not have access to credit to adopt new technology and purchase new varieties of seeds and pesticides which is a great hurdle in the development of Agri sector in Pakistan.

Farmers from all across the country have long been demanding that the government to devise policies and introduce awareness programmes to resolve this ongoing problem.

An official of the Punjab Irrigation Department Faisalabad said that lack of guidance is one of the main reasons for failure to increase productivity and is one of the most important matters that needs to be addressed.

The irrigation system of the country especially Punjab should be improved to prevent any food crisis in Pakistan held the official of the Punjab Irrigation Department Faisalabad.

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Posted by Wajahat Javed on Nov 14 2011. Filed under Business, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry