Hyderabad: The Sindh Abadgar Board, a group lobbying for rights of farmers, has underlined the need to rethink the country’s water strategy as 95 percent resource is being consumed for irrigation, causing even drinking water shortage downstream.
A meeting of the board here on Monday, chaired by Mahmood Nawaz Shah, emphasized that the water utilization rethinking should come up with efficient ways of using water.
The growers said it was time to understand the fact that there was no additional water available to irrigate additional agricultural land.
The policy thrust should be enhancing water productivity which at 0. 133 kg per cubic water was one of the lowest in the world and in the region, they pointed out.
The farmers said with the help of efficient irrigation, not only water could be saved but the yields and quality of crops could also be improved.
“Moreover, in the context of climate change and environmental degradation in Pakistan, it has become necessary for our water strategy to be prudent and conservation-led, ” they said.
The board’s meeting demanded that the wasteful, opulent expenses on water related projects should be stopped forthwith and the same funds should be channeled towards projects promoting water efficiency.
Dr Zulfiqar Yousfani, Syed Nadeem Shah, Dr Bashir Nizamani, Malook Nizamani, Aslam Mari, Imran Bozdar and Taha Memon, among others, attended the meeting.