Farmers fail to sow pulses after uncertain flow of Indus leaves them dry

HYDERABAD: It is for the first time during recent years that uncertain flow of the mighty Indus River has disrupted crop cultivation of mainly pulses (legumes), wheat, coriander and other short-period crops in the catchment areas.

Reports gathered from catchment area farmers residing in the surroundings of Unarpur and Budhapur show that masoor (split orange lentil) was cultivated on 20,000-25000 acres till a few years back. However, this year, hardly 10 percent of the land has been sown with this lentil, which has disappointed farmers.

Orange lentil is a winter crop. Farmers cultivate orange lentil mostly during November 15 to early December. It is worth noting that currently, only farmers in the catchment area of the river cultivate pulses. Farmers in the canal areas have changed their priority crops and mostly produce major crops.

Orange lentil is considered lucrative among pulse varieties. Its average per acre yield is around 25-30 maund and it is sold in the local market at around Rs5,000/maund.

Ali Gul Khoso, a small-scale landlord in Unarpur, Jamshoro district, said his own family could not spare a single acre of land for cultivating masoor this year.

He could not tell any specific reason why farmers were reluctant to sow orange lentil, despite the crop being lucrative in the catchment area over the years.

Similarly, he said farmers in this area usually spare 500-600 acre land for chickpeas (chana) cultivation, but this year they could not cultivate a single acre of land.

Coriander is another valuable crop in the area, which yields a produce of 15-25 maund/acre and has a market value of Rs6,000/maund.

Khoso said due to the uncertain flow of the river, most of influential farmers in the catchment area have installed tube wells as an alternative source of irrigation water to cultivate their lands. They also supply water to other farmers on commercial purposes and get a share of crops after the harvest, he said.

Some farmers have direct lift machines to get water from the thin stream of the river.

Farmers being living close to the river believe that underground water of tube wells was not beneficial for the growth of pulses. The produce decreases by 50 percent compared to the area receiving fresh river water flowing with rich nutrients.

Abdul Sattar Gambhir, another farmer of catchment area in the riverine town of Manjhand district Jamshoro, said usually farmers cultivate around 40,000-50,000 acre land for chickpeas.

But this year, the crop has been sown on merely 1,000 acres, indicating the disappointing event of drought

and dryness, which might cause food insecurity for not only the local communities, but the people who love pulses.

Chickpea, a winter crop, is valuable not only in terms of per acre income but also nutrition. It gives product at three stages. First the leaves are harvested for three-four times, then green seeds and at the end the mature product is picked.

Growers in the catchment area of the Indus River sow chickpeas in October and continue reaping it till March. Their traditional practices help them grow organic crops in a way that keeps the cost of cultivation low, except for the expenditure on tractors for ploughing the ground for sowing.

Its value in market ranges from Rs3,500-Rs4,000. It is the most drought tolerant crop, and farmers in the entire catchment area of the Indus produce it on a large scale.

These crops in the catchment area require water only once to grow without chemical input. Mostly, river floods the catchment area which benefits cultivation. But this year, the river could not continue its flow to reach the catchment area.

Agriculture researchers believe that some three decades back, Sindh had around 2,112,000 acres of catchment area, which depended on floodwaters to produce organic crops, mostly pulses. Every year, floodwaters irrigated a wide area, which was beneficial for the cultivation of organic crops, as one spell of the floodwater was enough for every crop.

The provincial government has never put the cultivation of pulses (legumes) on priority. Thus, it neither sets a cultivation target nor announces support/fixed prices for these crops for the benefit of the producers. As a result, farmers always face hardships in receiving proper rates for their produce.

Moreover, the farmers do not have access to any incentives or support case they could not cultivate valuable food crops because of unavailability of river water.

Reports reveal that in the wide mountainous areas, which depend on spate irrigation for cultivation, farmers have been unable to engage in their traditional practices. Since these farmers live at a distance from the river, they depend on natural waterways that carry water from hilly areas during the monsoon. These farmers also do not have access to tube wells.

Elderly farmers said they used to receive the river streams in March and April, and that was when they would prepare for crop growing. Now, it was changing continuously over the decade or so, they said.

At first, they started receiving water in the months of June, July, and August, and now this year, they were yet to get river water to grow traditional crops to continue living safe.

The depletion of forests along the river has already disturbed the traditional life of the riverine communities on both the sides of the river. The people used to rear livestock for survival in difficult times.

After the loss of forests, they shifted hands to agriculture on forest land. Since then they were being considered prone to disaster.

When the mighty river floods, these people suffer, and when the river flow declines, they face drought. The traditional practice of farmers in catchment areas is to cultivate winter crops, mostly food crops like varieties of pulses, wheat, coriander, and melon and watermelon families. At this point of time, the riverine people fear facing an uncertain situation in terms of losing their sources livelihoods.