Barani Areas Require Resources To Harvest Rainwater For Improving Agriculture, Alleviate Poverty

MULTAN, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 24th Jan, 2021 ) :Directorate of Soil Conservation, Field Wing of Punjab Agriculture Department developed more than 3000 water harvesting bodies having live storage capacity of 0.1-million-acre feet in Barani areas of the province, however there was still much potential to conserve rainwater for enhanced agricultural production and alleviating poverty.

This was disclosed by DG Field Agriculture Ghulam Siddique while talking to APP.He remarked that country was facing the issue of water crisis mainly due to climate change and mismanagement of available water resources. According to a report of an international body,Pakistan is the 14th most water stressed country in the world, facing acute water shortage. Moreover, being an agricultural country, this water shortage has direct impact on the nation's economy which is dependent on agriculture and water to grow crops, he maintained. Therefore, if this problem of water shortage prevails, it might have long financial and ecological impacts on the country.

The DG added, due to climate change, the winter season in the country has shrunk from four to two months and the monsoon season has become unpredictable in the past few years. Around 70% of total rainfall was received during monsoon season (July-September), which causes floods in the country due to lack of rainwater harvesting bodies. So, it is crucial to practice systematic conservation practices and water harvesting techniques to trap maximum rainwater to avoid flood losses and to improve the productivity of crops, especially in "Barani" region where Agriculture is entirely dependent on rainwater.

About Barani tract, he stated that it was consist of 13 districts namely, Rajanpur, D.G Khan, Layyah, Bhakkar, Khushab, Mianwali, Chakwal, Attock, Rawalpindi, Jhelum, Gujrat, Sialkot and Narowal, accounts up to 12.6 million acres of land. However, in spite of all natural and human resource, this region has not been able to develop at par with the other areas of the province due to lack of water storage reservoirs. It results low agricultural productions. Due to insufficient water harvesting bodies, most of the rain water was being wasted which also causes soil erosion at large scale. It was estimated that runoff generated due to precipitation as well as hill torrents causes one billion tons of soil to erode annually in this tract when water flows to its peak during the monsoon season, revealed the agriculture expert.

About performance of Soil Conservation and Field Wing of Agriculture Department, DG Ghulam Siddique remarked that the Directorate was providing its services to conserve water resources to combat the above-mentioned issues.

Under different schemes, various interventions related to water harvesting were developed which were highly beneficial as these enabled farmers to cultivate crops and vegetables all around the year and helped them to maintain their agricultural production even through the drought phase.

About Water Reservoirs, another two experts namely Dr Attiqur Rehman, soil scientist and Aqsa Ayub, Soil Survey Officer, noted that some mini dams were constructed to harvest rainwater from local catchment area having a capacity 20-40 acres feet. It was used to fulfill water requirements for irrigation, livestock and fish culture at local level. Moreover, it recharged ground water aquifers and other environmental conditions. Up till now, the directorate has developed about 1572 mini dams having live storage of about 62880-acre feet.

Similarly, water ponds are highly useful to meet the irrigation requirements round the year which were constructed with storage capacity of 15�20-acre feet. These were also important for livestock as well as fish farming and helped in improving ground water table and ameliorating environmental conditions. Moreover,water ponds also played an important role in reducing the rate of soil erosion by decreasing the intensity and quantum of runoff. So far, the Directorate was conserving 37140-acre feet annually.

Digging ponds have also been developed where flat to slightly rolling topography of land does not allow the making of earthen embankment above the ground. For harnessing runoff water, land was dig out up to allowable depth to store water. They could restore around five acres of rainwater to fulfill the water demand of crops.

Construction of water storage tanks was important for tapping spring water that plays an important role in reducing water losses and overcome drought conditions. This stored water could be used for kitchen gardening, agriculture and drinking proposes, stated experts.

The experts hinted Barani Tract has lot of potential for water resources development and agriculture activities. The agriculture experts remarked that there were still numerous potential sites available for rainwater harvesting. They maintained that availability of resources could help conserve rainwater and alleviate poverty in the Barani areas.