MIRPURKHAS: Mirpurkhas district council members, leading growers, irrigation experts, academia and civil society members have expressed their concerns over the acute water shortage. The district, which is the hub of mango and agriculture, is going through a difficult time and losing attraction.
Speaking at a project opening ceremony “Securing water rights and use for farmers of Mirpurkhas”, organized by Laar Humanitarian and Development Program (LHDP) on Thursday in Mirpurkhas.
The event attracted a large number of rural women and growers from neighboring areas. District Council Chairman Mir Anwar Talpur supported the protesting growers, saying they are right and deserve to be provided their water share to save their crops.
He stated that Mirpurkhas, being a hub of mango produce, is now losing orchard gardens rapidly, which is sign of destruction due to water shortage. He assured his support to the initiative for water lining and providing relief to growers. Zahid Bhrgari, senior vice president Chamber of Agriculture and member area water board, pointed out that illegal lift machines were taking 1500 cusec water from the canals directly, deriving the share of tail end to the farmers. He forced the government to take action against certain people and ensured a stop to this practice. The canals must stream naturally so they may benefit all farmers equally.
He revealed that earlier there was no concept of involving mango farmers in decision making at the local and government level. But now, these farmers are taking part in all the systems and can resolve and bring forth their issues effectively. He accused irrigation officials of destroying systems through unnecessary interventions. Sindh has 18 canals, out of which three canals are under SIDA management. He demanded a stop to unnecessary intervention by irrigation department officials to avoid loss of agriculture. He believed it is the responsibility of the government to improve water management to bridge the gaps. Mirpurkhas district is located at the tail end, where farmers always are being deprived of their water share.
Nara Canal has a capacity of 18000 cusec, but farmers do not have water and they wait for their turn after 21 days. Zahid stated global experts should tell growers which crop they may cultivate when receiving water after a delay of 21 days. Mustafa Ujja, Chairman LHDP in his welcome address said the project will focus on two branches of Jamrao Canal, including Kot Ghulam Muhammad and Potho, which feed 31 watercourses. These branches are located at tail end areas that benefit small farmers, who otherwise do not get their proper share of water due to various reasons. Ujja stated that due to unequal water distribution in the two branches, they usually deprive a large number of farmers of their share of water and, as a result, they cannot cultivate their lands.
He expressed hope that these minors will turn model water sources after working with farmers and other stakeholders. The objective of project is to work for strengthening and authorizing marginalized small farmers of Mirpurkhas to have ownership on water resources and benefit for sustainable agriculture. In this five-year project from 2017 to 2022, LHDP will work with farmers organizations and water courses associations so that they may contribute to sustainable agriculture.
He affirmed, “We want to educate farmers about their right to water in canals and get benefit, cultivate their lands. We want to work on drainage system maintenance, water management.” Tariq Ali Talpur, Chairman Nara Canal Area Water Board in his speech said the initiative for lining watercourses is laudable and definitely will benefit tail end farmers. He reported that the months of April and May always create problems for tail end areas but this year, it is worst kind in which people are crying out against the water shortage. Mansoor Memon, Project Director Left Bank Outfall Drainage (LBOD) stated that there is a bitter truth – that outsiders come to improve the system with NGOs, because of questionable performance of government institutions. He said “we have to review the system and find the causes and work dedicatedly to improve the system”. He proposed to bring together all politicians – disregarding political parties – officials of related institutions, and farmers to resolve the issues together and improve the system. He said it is unfortunate that the rotation programmes are being designed behind closed doors without taking farmers on board. He believed ownership of all stakeholders should be proved to move ahead. There are 1800 tube wells in Mirpurkhas out of which hardly four are functional. Besides this, 500 tube wells are planned to be installed but due to some reason, officials took themachines and systems of 450 to warehouses. Only 50 tube wells are installed with the farmers’ choice. PVDP Director Dominic Stephen, who belongs to the Thar Desert and is working on water and disaster mitigation, said water is the right of powerless people. He urged the powerless people in agriculture to come forward and raise their voices. He revealed that the majority of poor people have shifted hands to other industries, leaving their traditional occupation of agriculture. The increasing machinery in agriculture and mechanized systems compelled farmers to leave their lands and move to urban areas. Iqbal Hyder, Executive Director LHDP in his speech warned that farmers should be ready to see that there is no water in the future. He gave his assurance thatLHDP is mobilizing people associated with water and cultivation in this area. Discussing the issue further, he stated that the government has adopted the move to achieve Sustainable Development Goals, in which livelihood, water and agriculture are the main tasks to achieve.
They are working on the issues where the government is unable to implement, like this initiative to motivate growers and other stakeholders to achieve the task to maintain and improve the water canal system.
Hyder said the next five years (2017–2022) are important to change the approach of the bureaucracy, officials and farmers in the area they have identified for work. The farmers depend on these two minors and watercourses. He believed a poor drainage and irrigation system and climate change may pose a threat to the disaster prone district in the near future. Because there is no preparedness and in case the rains floods like 2011, it will be horrible for the people and government. He affirmed that climate change is also major factor of water shortage and farmers are facing difficulties. Mithal Jiskani of Sindh Agriculture University Tandojam said the main issue is water, which has brought all the people together to discuss a solution. He emphasised the need to adopt crop cultivation that consumes little water and gives more product. It is the need of hour because there is an acute shortage of water and farmers cannot afford to cultivate traditional crops. Drip and sprinklers irrigation system are alternative and Jiskani believes this must be adopted. Innovative methods in agriculture should be applied to get more yield and avoid loss, he added. Jamrao Canal, a part of main Nara Canal, was developed in 1890 to provide water to irrigate lands in Mirpurkhas subdivision. Its capacity is 3500 cusec water, but time to time changes are taking place as per the needs of farmers. During the monsoon season, more water is released even beyond its natural capacity.
Spreading over a 270 kilometer area, the canal needs maintenance and proper management to make it further functional to irrigate the area.
