FARMERS are once again having a hard time especially in upper Sindh where their rice crop has been badly damaged in the recent monsoon. The cotton in upper Sindh has also been affected.

Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Qambar-Shahdadkot and Kashmore districts have borne the major brunt of these damages.

For last three years, farmers are facing difficult times due to successive rains and floods. Super Flood 2010 had devastated rice crop and then again 2011 rains ruined Kharif crops. The upper Sindh produces mainly for coarse rice.

“Around 30 to 40 per cent of the crop is going to be hit as water is standing in rice fields and we don’t see any chance of draining the water out because our area lacks drainage system,” says rice grower Gada Hussain Mahesar. Even cotton crop in upper Sindh belt is seriously hit.

“Rice crop is reddening which indicates that the crop is dying due to stagnant rainwater,” he says after a visit to his fields in upper Sindh.

At the beginning of Kharif season, growers were crying hoarse against non-availability of irrigation water because of shortage in the Indus river system.

Irrigation officials said the situation was serious in Shikarpur, Jacobabad and Kashmore districts due to lack of adequate drainage facility.

Rainwater flowing from Balochistan would be diverted to Manchhar lake first through Hair Din drain in Hamal lake. “Our assessment is that around 3.2 MAF to 3.5 MAF of water is travelling towards Sindh from Balochistan and if we deduct 50 per cent of this quantum towards losses in terms of absorption and traveling period then 1.6 MAF water will be going to Manchhar through Hamal Lake via MNV [main Nara valley] drain,” says irrigation secretary Babar Effendi.

Water travels parallel to flood protective bund in Sindh and Manchhar lake can afford 0.92 MAF of water. “Once water starts reaching Manchhar it will be disposed of in the Indus gradually,” he says.

Cultivation of crop was delayed from May to late June. Rice sowing and transplantation is still in progress in September. Rice’s sowing target was set at 642,000 hectares and according to provincial agriculture department, Sindh has exceeded the target by four per cent.

Until September 7, about 667,962 hectares were brought under rice cultivation.

Qambar-Shahdadkot district was badly affected by rains. Here farmers didn’t have opportunity to go for maximum rice cultivation due to non-availability of water. Eventually when water was provided, they opted for sowing late varieties of the crop. When it was ready for transplantation, rains hit it in the first week of September.

“In Qambar-Shahdadkot district rice was cultivated only on 65 per cent of the total area. The present rains damaged crop on around 30 per cent of the cultivated area,” says a farmer Ishaq Mughairi from Shahdadkot.

“In reaches of Kirthar canal and North Western Canal, water was available to farmers for early sowing and they may save their crop in these areas as it was cultivated on time,” he says.

Cotton has been sown on 89 per cent of the target of 650,000 hectares. Last year’s sowing was reported on 660,782 hectares.

Cotton came under pest attacks and according to cotton growers rain would control the pests, though cotton quality would be hit to some extent.

“We are having second picking and the period between August and October is the ideal time,” says cotton grower Mir Amanullah Talpur.

The rains are not that heavy for lower Sindh region. However, it will delay cotton picking, possibly affecting the Rabi sowing, he believes.