Water scarcity: Punjab govt encouraging drip irrigation

LAHORE: Agriculture (Water Management) Director General Malik Muhammad Akram said the Punjab government in collaboration with the World Bank is encouraging drip irrigation under Punjab Irrigated-Agriculture Productivity Improvement Project (PIPIP) to overcome water scarcity.

Talking to this correspondent he said under this project, agriculture department is installing drip & sprinkler irrigation on subsidy basis in the fields.

Drip irrigation system is suitable for crop cultivation when irrigation water or rainwater is not enough for conventional farming.

So far, this technology has been adopted by many farmers across Punjab owing to acute shortage of river water and limited rains.

He said it is high time to start water saving awareness campaign as in the next century wars will be fought over water. Drip irrigation installation can help a lot in saving available water.

The DG further disclosed that keeping in view its high efficiency in conserving water, increasing per acre yield and reducing cost of cultivation, there is a need to create awareness among farmers about drip irrigation system.

With this technology, the farmers could save 60% electricity and diesel costs; augmenting per acre yield by 100%.

The government is helping farmers adopt this system by providing drip irrigation equipment at subsidised rates and providing 60% subsidy on installation of drip irrigation system.

There is 40% to 50% saving of fertilizers if drip irrigation system is used. Currently, the system is used for small scale cultivation eg 12.5 acre of land. However, other techniques and methods are under way to extend the programme for large scale cultivation.

Drip irrigation technology is being provided to farmers by government on subsidised cost with financial assistance from the World Bank.

Malik Muhammad Akram further said it is need of the hour to move towards modern resource conservation technologies such as drip irrigation to cope with the situation of water scarcity in the coming years.