Training Workshop for Balocahistan Farmers

Underground water in Balochistan is decreasing every year by 10 feet because of heavy pumping, raising the question mark on future agriculture and survival, said University of Agriculture Faisalabad Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan. He was addressing concluding session of four-day training workshop held for Balocahistan Farmers arranged by Water Management Research Centre, UAF. He said that 5,000-year Karez irrigation system in Balochistan is also losing its effectively due to heavy pumping. The people ingeniously created the Karez to draw the underground water to irrigate the farmland. He said every year, the floods devastate agriculture and human life in the country. It is prerequisite to build the dams in order to conserve the water that will help the country to overcome floods. Talking abut Balochisan, he was of the view that Mirani dam will irrigate the 30,000 acre of the land. Initially it is irrigating 8,000 acre. He stressed the need to conserve the water as the declining water reservoirs are posing a serious threat to life. He said at the time of independence, per acre water availability was around 5000 cubic metre which has declined to 975 cubic metre, putting the country in the red zone as per water availability index. WMRC Director Prof Dr Allah Buksh said that the traditional way of irrigation such as flood water must be replaced with the modern ones. He said that by adoption of latest methods such as drip irrigation and sprinkle irrigations will help save the water and also increase the productivity. He said that WMRC has arranged 15 workshops for the Balochistan people in which 450 people had been arranged. Progressive farmer Haji Abdullah Baloch stressed the need to promote the water skimming techniques in Baluchistan to make unfit water; fit for agriculture use. He said that the water saving technique are vital to handle the situation. Progressive farmer Zulfiqar Maghsi said that lack of agriculture machinery is hampering to get the fruit from the potential. He urged the government to provide the machinery on subsidy to the farming community.