Rice cultivation banned on left bank of Indus

Karachi
The Sindh government announced on Saturday that it was banning rice cultivation in the command areas of the canals lying on the left bank of the Indus River to control water-logging and salinity.
This decision was made at a meeting presided over by Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah. It was attended by National Assembly opposition leader Khursheed Shah, MNA Syed Asghar Shah, MPAs Sardar Imdad Ali Pitafi, Syed Murad Ali Shah and Syed Sarfaraz Shah, Board of Revenue senior member Shahid Gulzar Shaikh, the irrigation secretary and the Sukkur, Mirpurkhas and Shaheed Benazirabad commissioners and deputy commissioners.
The chief minister said the perennial canals at Guddu, Sukkur and Kotri barrages had a lengthy command area of more than 150 to 350 kilometres and water shortage persisted at their tail-end.
“These canals are meant for dry kharif crops. But rice cultivation in the command areas of these canals had further aggravated the water shortage because paddy crop required a lot of water,” he added.
He added that because of rice cultivation, the sub-soil water level had elevated and caused water-logging and salinity to dangerous proportions, destroying the entire green belt on the left bank of the Indus River.
Khursheed Shah said there was a dire need for changing the crop pattern. Otherwise, he added, the entire left bank strip of the province would turn into lakes of saline water.
MPA Sardar Ahmed Ali Pitafi said climatically Sindh had the distinction to cultivate early kharif crops but the irrigation department released water in the canals and distributaries very late. Therefore, he added, growers were left with no choice but to grow rice. “Rice cultivation is easy and it does not require hard labour and extra care. That is why the growers prefer to cultivate rice,” he noted.
MNA Syed Sarfraz Shah and MPAs Syed Murad Ali Shah and Nasir Shah, who own farms on the left bank command areas, said water-logging had destroyed fruit orchards in the area.
The chief minister said the problems of the command areas of the perennial channels, especially the Ghotki Feeder Canal, the Rohri Canal, the Nara Canal, the Khairpur Feeder East and the Khairpur Feeder West, had to be addressed on an urgent basis.
“The Sindh government has spent millions on the installation, maintenance and operation of tube-wells to control the water table,” he added.