Drip Irrigation Project Could Not Achieve Success Due To Higher Cost

Additional Secretary of Sindh Agriculture department, Engineer Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed on Thursday said the project of installation of Drip Irrigation System to stop wastage of water in farms could not achieve success even after passage of years due its higher per acre cost.

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th Oct, 2018 ) :Additional Secretary of Sindh Agriculture department, Engineer Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed on Thursday said the project of installation of Drip Irrigation System to stop wastage of water in farms could not achieve success even after passage of years due its higher per acre cost.

He told APP that Sindh Irrigated Agriculture Productivity Enhancement Project (SIAPEP) was launched by Sindh Agriculture department in collaboration with World Bank.

He informed that till date only 68 farms spread over 756 acres have installed the drip irrigation system.

He said the expenses of installation of drip irrigation system were to be shared among the donor agency, Sindh government 60% and 40% by the farmers.

However, the farmers were not taking interest in the system as according to them 40% was not affordable for them, he added.

Shakeel Ahmed said the Sindh government has written the World Bank to review the policy about share of farmers and to reduce it to 20% for the success of project.

He said if the share of farmers would be reduced they would start installing drip irrigation at their farms.

He informed that the drip irrigation would initially be installed in gardens only.

Additional Secretary further said the target of the project to install drip irrigation system was set for 2,648 gardens spread over 35,240 acres.

The estimated cost of the project is Rs 6215.26 million.