LAHORE, May 2: Cotton sowing in the country depicts a disastrous situation with water shortage in the crop areas ranging between 26 to 77 per cent, especially in southern Punjab, which produces over 85 per cent of national yield.

Four southern districts of Punjab are turning out to be the worst hit, where water shortage has touched catastrophic 77 per cent - 9,800 cusecs against a demand of 42,800 cusecs — in the middle of sowing time.

The districts of Rahim Yar Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur and Muzaffargarh contribute around 35pc of total national cotton yield, with Rahim Yar Khan alone producing over 1.4m bales.

All other areas of central Punjab — Pakpattan, Sahiwal, Vehari, Mailsi — are taking a hit of over 30pc and Sindh, where cotton sowing is currently in full swing, is also taking a hit of 26pc — around 34,000 cusecs against a demand of 45,000 cusecs.

The situation during the next ten days (May 1 to 10) is going to be even worse as river flows are receding almost on daily basis, say water experts.

The Punjab government on Friday wrote a letter to the Indus River System (Irsa) protesting against the cut in water supplies at “the most crucial time” for cotton sowing. Against the current average national shortage of around 26pc, these four districts have shortage of 77 per cent.

Supplies to these four districts have been squeezed progressively during the last one week from 28,300 cusecs on April 21 to 9,800 cusecs by April 30. The Punjab government warned that even drinking water would not be available in these areas by next week if the situation persists.

“It is turning to be a complete disaster,” says Rao Afsar Khan of Rajanpur, adding that prices of diesel has spun out of farmers’ reach so they cannot pump out water, load-shedding duration has reached 12 to 15 hours in rural areas and the mealy bug danger is looming over the heads of those, who still dare sowing cotton.

The Bt mafia is adding to sufferings of the growers. “There might be a substantial drop in acreage of cotton in these areas as some of the farmers are already talking about opting for sunflower or leaving their lands empty for early sowing of wheat later this year.”

Meanwhile, rivers’ flow in the country also dropped by almost 50 per cent compared to the corresponding period of last year. On Friday, the total availability of water in all four rivers — Indus, Kabul, Jhelum and Chenab — was around 125,300 cusecs against 241,000 cusecs last year on the same day.

According to details, River Indus was flowing at 35,800 cusecs against 83,500 cusecs last year. Consequently, Tarbella Lake stood at 1,369 feet against 1,440 feet last year. Kabul River was flowing at 30,000 cusecs against 69,000 cusecs last year and Chenab at 19,500 cusecs against 35,900 cusecs.

Similarly, Jhelum experienced a drop of 12,600 cusecs — from 52,600 cusecs last year to 40,000 cusecs. Mangla Dam has thus been stuck at a level of 1,087 feet for the last four days against 1,176 feet last year.