LARKANA: Representatives of growers’ organisations have expressed fear that release of smaller volume of water, much less than the sanctioned amount, and its late arrival in canals irrigating rice belt in upper Sindh will cast negative impact on paddy production.

Irfan Jatoi, president of Sindh Abadgar Board, Larkana chapter, told Dawn on Monday that paddy was cultivated on 90 per cent of land on the right bank of Indus River.

Rice Canal, Dadu Canal, Warah Canal and Khirthar Canal were the main irrigation arteries which irrigated the vast paddy fields of different varieties on 2,200,000 acres, which also included Badin and other districts of lower Sindh, he said.

He said the IRRI-6 variety was sold in international market but unfortunately “we sow it late by 40 days and thus lose the ripe time to transplant IRRI-6 and other coarse rice paddy variety,” said Mr Jatoi.

He said that under the obtaining conditions growers entirely depended on Basmati and hybrid varieties but again water did not reach the tail-end areas due to inadequate de-silting of canals, irrigation branches and tributaries, which affected a vast paddy-growing area.

SAB, SCA chiefs blame choked waterways for insufficient, delayed arrival of flows

“We grow indigenous varieties of paddy on 400,000 acres while hybrid paddy is sown on 1,800,000 acres,” he said. The rise in seed prices together with rapid escalation of cost in fertilisers used in paddy fields and late arrival of water would have drastic consequences for overall rice production, he feared.

He demanded the government raise volume of water in the canals which exclusively irrigated paddy fields in the province. The DAP fertiliser was sold at Rs8,500 to Rs9,000 in the market at present and it would soon touch Rs12,000 as it happened last year, he said.

He said the urgent improvement in water flows and just distribution of water to canals would ensure water reached the tail-ends and helped growers to transplant late varieties of paddy.

The persistent water shortage triggered protests in Shahdadkot, Warah, Lalu Rounk, Nasirabad, Sujawal Junejo and other parts in upper Sindh where activists of different political parties also joined growers’ protest.

Siraj-ul-Oliya, president of Sindh Chamber of Agriculture (SCA), said the command area of Rice Canal was around 270,000 acres. Water was currently available in the system but due to government failure to de-silt the canal only 11,000 cusecs was flowing in it, he said.

It was injustice that water share of Rice Canal was being diverted to Warah Canal which had further aggravated the situation and multiplied farmers’ difficulties. The worst sufferers under the obtaining conditions would be growers at the tail-end of Rice Canal in Mehar and Warah, he said, adding the shortage damaged the paddy nurseries and so the overall crop cultivation, he said.

He said that normally water arrived in canals by May 15 but it was July and water was not up to the mark in the canals. The month of June was suitable for growers to transplant IRRI-6 paddy that was exportable commodity and earned good foreign exchange, he said.

He said the hybrid seeds were cultivated from June 10 to July but late arrival of water in canals had already delayed their cultivation. A two kilogram bag of hybrid seed was available in the market at Rs3,200 which an ordinary farmer could not afford. Besides, they were uncertain about the yield from the hybrid seed, he said, adding it was time for cultivating Basmati varieties which were easily available at Rs7,000 per 40 kg. These varieties were sold at reasonable rates in the market which benefited growers, he said.

He said the price of DAP fertiliser, which was available at present at Rs9,000 per bag, would go up to Rs12,000 to Rs15,000 with passage of time. It would also affect the production, he warned.

Asked about water availability, he said that farmers were already a month late sowing paddy while dams were reportedly being filled instead of releasing water into the system.

The growers’ leaders demanded the government ensure timely release of water into the canals irrigating the rice belt to encourage farmers to cultivate paddy and the varieties which earned foreign exchange and also met domestic needs.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2023