Climate change, water shortage adversely affecting crop yield in KP

PESHAWAR: Climate change and reduction in water availability during the past 20 years has started leaving adverse effects on crops’ production in the agriculture rich areas of the province, said experts in a three-day workshop concluded here on Sunday.

The workshop on ‘Climate Change Adaptation and Water Management for Small Holder Farmers of KP’ was organised at the University of Peshawar with the support of the US Mission in Pakistan.

Dr Bushra Khan of the Department of Environmental Studies, University of Peshawar, was the resource person.

A total of 60 participants including farmers, agriculture research officers and students of farming families from five districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including Peshawar, Nowshera, Charsadda, Mardan and Swabi participated in the workshop.

Dr Ishaq Mian of Agriculture University, Peshawar, served as focal person.

The experts on the occasion stressed the need for adaptive measures like rainwater conservation and harvesting techniques and better on-farm water management.

Director on-farm water management Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Dr Rab Nawaz acknowledged that 60 percent of the irrigation water goes waste due to non-availability and deteriorated water channels, which needed repair and reconstruction on war-footing.

In the interactive sessions the farmers said they had felt the climate impact in form of increase temperature and reduction in water availability due to erratic weather pattern.

Untimely rains coupled with longer summer and shorter winter are adversely affecting agriculture productivity.

The change in climate pattern has also resulted in increase in cost of crop production, including more use of fertilisers, pesticides, purchase of seeds and more electricity cost for watering the crops, the farmers informed.

The current climate trend has affected the crop productivity in the province. The farmers appealed to the authorities concerned to help them cope with the situation before it gets worsened further.

The participants were informed about several techniques to upgrade their knowledge for better agricultural productivity, water management, agricultural sanitation and hygiene, and climate change resilience, adaption and mitigation measures during the workshop.

The experts briefed the participants about a variety of the locally produced seeds and recommended that they could stand well against the impact of climate change.

They emphasized on the joint role of government, academia, and international organizations to help the small farmers to minimize the effects of climate change.

Prof Dr Hizbullah Khan, Dr Nasir Jamal Khattak, Dr Tahir Sarwar, Dr Saeeda Yousaf, Dr Shahla Nazneen, Dr Mamoona Wali, Dr Naveedullah and Dr Gulzar delivered lectures during the workshop.

Dean of Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Peshawar, Prof Dr Bashir Ahmad, and Director General Pakistan Forest Institute Hakim Shah were chief guests at the concluding session.