Call for building more water reservoirs

Islamabad : The ongoing severe winter drought, which has adversely affected winter sowing, particularly wheat in the country, is in fact a part of the larger trend of increasing climate variability that threatens to disrupt agriculture, exacerbate water shortages and elevate the risks of future droughts across the country.

However, building more water reservoirs, restoring wetlands and promoting drought-tolerant crop varieties can go a long way in mitigating recurring and intensifying drought risks in the country.

This was stated by said Muhammad Saleem Shaikh, a climate policy expert and spokesperson for the climate change and environmental coordination ministry in a statement.

He said that the country wa currently grappling with an unusual winter drought because of 40pc below normal rains between September 2024 to January 2025, which had put productivity of winter crops and livelihoods of farming communities at risk.

"Due to acutely low rains, water stress has already exacerbated further in cultivated lands in Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, in particularly in rain-fed regions, due to the limited supply of irrigation water from the river system for Rabi crops," he said.

“If the rainfall situation does not improve anytime soon, wheat production may suffer up to 50pc,” he said, urging farmers to use water resources available for irrigation in any form more judiciously.