ADB approves $42.9m for Fata irrigation project

Published December 18, 2014
The project will be completed in March 2020 and Fata secretariat will be the executing agency. – Dawn/file
The project will be completed in March 2020 and Fata secretariat will be the executing agency. – Dawn/file

ISLAMABAD: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a loan of $42.9 million to provide reliable irrigation for farmlands and non-cultivated lands in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) of Pakistan.

The project will be completed in March 2020 and Fata secretariat will be the executing agency, said a statement issued by the ADB on Thursday.

ADB’s concessional Asian Development Fund is funding the project with counterpart funds from the government of Pakistan amounting $4.9 million.

“Irrigated farmlands in Fata will boost productivity and enable farmers to earn higher incomes by producing higher-value crops, including vegetables,” Donneth Walton, an ADB Principal Natural Resources and Agriculture Specialist was quoted as saying in the statement.

“This will reduce poverty and boost household food security,” Walton said.

Fata is located along Pakistan’s northwestern border with Afghanistan and is spread over 27,000 square kilometers. The project area consists of three of seven semi-autonomous Fata agencies namely Bajaur, Khyber, and Mohmand with a population of 2.6 million whose vast majority depends on agriculture, livestock, and natural resources for their livelihood.

Pakistan has been battling militants in this semi-autonomous tribal belt since 2004, after its army entered the region to search for Al Qaeda fighters who had fled across the border following the US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

According to the statement today, poor water resource management has become a major obstacle to increasing productivity and improving the living conditions of the Fata inhabitants.

Due to low rainfall, many farmers in the project area rely on rain fed subsistence agriculture, which produces food staples such as wheat and maize. Some rely for irrigation mainly on groundwater taken from wells, with little utilisation of surface water.

As per the project, irrigated agriculture in Fata will be expanded through better use of the region’s surface water resources. Instead of building costly water infrastructure, the project will use simple and small irrigation schemes that can be maintained by the local communities, including small gravity dams.

The project will also improve farm water management through activities such as terracing and land levelling, and watershed management through afforestation of the degraded watersheds.

Follow Dawn Business on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook for insights on business, finance and tech from Pakistan and across the world.

Opinion

Editorial

Kurram atrocity
22 Nov, 2024

Kurram atrocity

WITH the situation in KP’s Kurram tribal district already volatile for the past several months, the murderous...
Persistent grip
22 Nov, 2024

Persistent grip

PAKISTAN has now registered 50 polio cases this year. We all saw it coming and yet there was nothing we could do to...
Green transport
22 Nov, 2024

Green transport

THE government has taken a commendable step by announcing a New Energy Vehicle policy aiming to ensure that by 2030,...
Military option
Updated 21 Nov, 2024

Military option

While restoring peace is essential, addressing Balochistan’s socioeconomic deprivation is equally important.
HIV/AIDS disaster
21 Nov, 2024

HIV/AIDS disaster

A TORTUROUS sense of déjà vu is attached to the latest health fiasco at Multan’s Nishtar Hospital. The largest...
Dubious pardon
21 Nov, 2024

Dubious pardon

IT is disturbing how a crime as grave as custodial death has culminated in an out-of-court ‘settlement’. The...