MULTAN: The provincial government has set the target of 4,500 acres of land for the installation of Drip and Sprinkler Irrigation System (DSIS) in the Multan region during 2014-15 under the High Efficiency Irrigation System Project (HEISP).

This was stated by the HEISP Regional Project Director Ahmed Raees while talking to Dawn.

Mr Raees said the agriculture sector was almost entirely dependent on irrigation as more than 95 per cent of the country’s water was being used for this purpose.

He said on the one hand the demand for water was increasing with each passing day while on the other hand the availability of water was shrinking in the country.

The project director said about 65pc water was being wasted due to overflowing of water in uneven fields and deteriorating watercourses.

He said the purpose of the project was to improve the productivity of water being used in irrigating agricultural land across the province.

“The installation of the DSIS has so far been done on 515 acres of land in Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan, the two divisions of the Multan region, which comes to 11.44pc of the total area,” he said.

Mr Raees said the system would be installed in three divisions of the Multan region -- 1,200 acres in Multan, 1,600 acres in Dera Ghazi Khan and 1,600 acres in Bahawalpur, however, the installation process in Multan has yet to be started.

He said the last year’s target for the installation of system in the region was 3,000 acres, but it could be installed at 2,200 acres which was 73.33pc of the total targeted area.

He said the provincial government was also providing a subsidy of Rs22,500 to farmers on the purchase of each laser land leveler.

“As many as 150 subsidized laser land levelers will be distributed among farmers through balloting in the Multan region,” he said.

He said that 876 new watercourse would also be constructed in the region during the year while an interim completion report (ICR-1) of 166 watercourses had already been completed.

“The 80 tubewell schemes have also been launched for Thal while non-canal command areas and eight schemes will be completed in each district of the region except Rahim Yar Khan district and the government is providing subsidy of Rs250,000 against each scheme of non-canal command area,” he said.

Agriculture Information assistant director Naveed Asmat Kahloon said the provincial government was offering 60pc subsidy over the installation of DSIS which was only being provided to farmers having land up to 15 acres.

He said the installation cost of the system was different for different crops, but normally the cost for one acre was Rs130,000 while the cost for orchard field was Rs120,000 per acre.

He said the input expenses could be reduced up to 40pc while the production could be increased from 20 to 100pc after the installation of the system.

Mr Kahloon said the project had been launched in all districts of the province to facilitate farmers to overcome the shortage of water and get maximum advantages of other inputs.

“The system is a wonderful solution of issues of electricity, fertilizer and water besides bringing increase in the per acre yield,” he said.

He said the system was very easy to operate and only one person could irrigate the field within few hours.

“The current efficiency of irrigation is between 35 to 40pc while it can be increased up to 95pc after the installation of the system,” he said.

Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2014