MULTAN:Director General Agriculture, Water Management Malik Muhammad Akram Friday said that a sum of Rs 67 billion was being spent to enhance production capacity of Punjab irrigated agriculture by overpowering water shortage through smart techniques and mitigating impact of climate change.
He expressed these views in a meeting with a 15-member official agriculture delegation from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at agriculture secretariat, Lahore. The delegation is currently on a three-day visit to Punjab to witness execution of project and sites.
Malik Akram said the financial and technical assistance was being extended to farmers for installation of drip/sprinkler irrigation systems, lining of water courses, improvement of irrigation schemes in non-irrigated areas, and developing ponds to store rain water for agriculture purposes.
Moreover, he added, over 10 million trees were also being planted across Punjab for the last three years as per green Pakistan vision of the prime minister to mitigate negative impact of climate change.
The visiting delegate appreciated the DG water management for scoring success in execution of the project.
Senior visiting agriculture officers of KPK also discussed the challenges being faced in way of execution of irrigated agriculture production project in KPK.
The delegation would witness the project execution, lining of water courses, PCPS Yard, Center Pivot Irrigation System, and Drip Irrigation sites.
World Bank representative Ms. Maha said that it was a big and successful project being executed in Punjab with the assistance from WB to help Punjab fight climate change phenomenon and overpower water shortage and it would be helpful in ensuring food self sufficiency.