The Balochistan government has undertaken various initiatives to upgrade the irrigation system to boost the province's agriculture sector and the overall economy. In this regard, the province's irrigation department, with the assistance of the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, has allocated Rs20 billion for various schemes. "These schemes aim to upgrade the irrigation system in the province," Masood Notezai, the irrigation department's chief technical engineer, said. He also revealed that the irrigation department had introduced the information management system to inform the stakeholders about the flood threat and other natural calamities in the province. He said the schemes included the construction of small water reservoirs as well as improvement of the irrigation channels. "Though the province encompasses over 40 per cent of the total land area of the country, making its land agricultural friendly remains a dream of the local people," he noted.

Meanwhile, the director of the agriculture department, Umar Khan, pointed out that lesser participation of Balochistan in agricultural production as compared to other provinces had been a challenge for the authorities as the province lacked a mechanised irrigation system to amply utilise its water resources.
"Therefore, the Balochistan government has launched a number of projects in the irrigation sector to make the province self-sufficient in the production of various food grains and improve the socioeconomic condition of people," he pointed out. "The government has launched multiple projects in the agriculture and irrigation sectors to bring the barren land under cultivation and make the province self-sufficient in the production of various food grains," he maintained. The agriculture department director referred to the installation of green tunnels for enhancing the production of off-season vegetables and fruits through tunnel farming, and said the provincial government had allocated a sizeable amount of funds to develop an irrigation system for improving agricultural produce.

He said as almost 85 per cent of the population in Balochistan lived in rural regions and relied mostly on agriculture and livestock as a source of income, the government had also constructed 878 water courses and 361 water storage tanks to resolve the water issues of these people. "The irrigation department has also been mandated to monitor and improve the depleting water table in 18 river basins across Balochistan," he said, adding perennial structures had been constructed to help recharge groundwater aquifers, mitigate flooding impacts and control soil erosion. "As Balochistan produces many precious fruits, setting up special agricultural zones in the region to promote value addition of these cash fruit crops could generate valuable revenue and bring positive changes to people's lives," Umar said. He said that with the new government taking over the reins of power in the province, the pace of work on these projects would be expedited as the chief minister had vowed to uplift the people of the province by focusing on agriculture, industry and mining sectors.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan