PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will become the first province in January 2021 to implement the food security policy in the country.
The KP government will approve the first-ever food security policy in the next meeting of the provincial cabinet. This historic green revolution policy will make barren land cultivable, improve employment opportunities and provide people with access to adequate, safe and nutritious affordable food.
Chief Minister Mahmood Khan told this scribe that the mission of the policy is attaining an efficient, affordable, sustainable, nutrition-sensitive and inclusive food system in the province. “To attain sustainable food security, poverty alleviation and generate employment opportunities through achieving higher sustainable economic growth is the goal of this policy,” he said. The chief minister said the government is facing investment challenges because of limited financial services and accessibility, non-existence of crop insurance, lack of market-oriented/demand-driven agriculture, low government priorities, non-adoption to modern challenges, lack of infrastructure, and administrative and operational bottlenecks. These challenges will be addressed in the upcoming policy; however, short projects will be completed in the current tenure of the PTI government in KP.
The architect of the first food security policy Senior Member Board of Revenue Syed Zaffar Ali Shah told this scribe that silent features of the policy are to enhance income and nutrition, increase agricultural productivity, manage land and water resources, improve agricultural mechanization, promote livestock, fisheries and poultry farming, prevent food wastage and waste, and improve the supply chain of the food department. All relevant sectors have been made part of this policy.
According to official documents, Rs236.125 billion will be spent in the coming ten years and will have an impact of 62.233 Billion per Annum. An amount of Rs93.855 billion will be spent in agriculture and allied sectors while Rs142.27 billion will spent on the irrigation and infrastructure sector. The short-term projects will be completed in two to three years and an amount of Rs56.315 Billion (Rs15.265 billion for Irrigation) will be spent. Its annual impact on the province’s economy will be 21 billion. All projects would be completed by the present KP government. Similarly, medium-term projects will be completed in four to seven years and an amount of Rs109.45 Billion (Rs.75.65 billion for the Irrigation sector) will be allocated and will have an impact of 18.684 billion per annum.
However long-term plans will be completed in eight to ten years and the government will spend almost 70.36 Billion (Rs.51.36 Billion for the Irrigation sector including 41.86 billion for CRBC). It will have an impact of 22.300 billion per annum.
According to the documents, Rs142,275.5 million will be spent in ten years which will irrigate 584,026 acres of barren land in different parts of the province. Short-term water sector projects will be completed within two to three years. The water sector short term plans included the construction of Singoor & Doon Aweer irrigation schemes in Chitral at the cost of 850 million and will provide water to 1066 acres of land.
Similarly, the cost of construction of the Zaitor Sanik irrigation scheme in Chitral is Rs200 million and will irrigate 300 acres. Furthermore, improvement and extension of Attani irrigation scheme Chitral have a cost of Rs150 million and it will cultivate 200 acres of land. Another project of improvement of Kabul Gram irrigation scheme district Shangla has a cost Rs250 million which 352 acres of land will be cultivated.
Construction of Shahoo Khel irrigation scheme district Hangu has an estimate of 200 million and will irrigate 1,400 acres, improvement, and extension of Balambat Irrigation scheme Dir (L) 750 million, 10,000 acres of land, Shrdara Dam Swabi 2,600 million cost and 1,600 acres of land will be available for cultivation.
Documents further revealed that Surkhawai Dam District Mardan cost Rs2,000 million and provide water to 1,959 acres of land, Nakai Dam Nowshera Rs900 million, 650 acres, Bahadar Khel Dam District Nowshera Rs600 million, 650 acres, Chashma Akor Khal Dam Rs1600 million, 1500 acres, Barwasa Dam Project Haripur Rs900 million, 1110 acres of land will be ready for cultivated.
Similarly, Shaheed Band Dam has an estimated cost of Rs910.1 million, 1,040 acres of land will be irrigated, Ramak Dam on Ramak Nullah in D I Khan Rs565 million, 617 acres, Kuhi Bahara Dam on Khulwali Nallah in D.I.Khan Rs470.8 million, 400 acres of land, Zangoti Dam on Zangoti Khwar in North Waziristan Rs860.4 million, and 600 acres of land will be irrigated after the completion of the project.
Zakar Khel Dam on Khaisora River in North Waziristan has an estimated cost of Rs1,129.5 million and 1,500 acres will be cultivated while Chargharhai Oss Pass Dam on Chargharhai River in South Waziristan Rs279.7 million and 250 acres of land will be irrigated.
Medium Term projects including the construction of Tank Zam at district Tank has a cost of Rs18,000 million and will irrigate 70,000 acres of land, Construction of Bara Dam Rs30,000 million, 41,729 acres, construction Dhatar to Malkan irrigation scheme Abbottabad Rs450 million, 2000 acres, Kora Nullah Dam DIK Rs3,000 million 6,500 acres, construction of Sheikh Haider Zam dam DIK Rs4,500 million and it will provide water to 19398 acres of land. The construction of Daraban Zam Dam DIK has an estimated cost of Rs3,000 million for 15,500 acres irrigation, construction of Choudwan Zam Dam DIK Rs4500 million, 16000 acres, Panjkora river left and right bank Dir Lower Irrigation scheme Rs5000 million and 12555 acres of land will be available for irrigation purpose. The construction of Tora Wari Dam Hangu has an estimated cost of Rs3500 million, 7000 acres, and Sumari Payan Dam Kohat Rs1,500 million will cultivate 2,200 acres of barren land.
Long-term projects will be completed in a maximum of ten years including the CRBC lift cum Gravity project DIK has a total cost is 41,860 million and the provincial share is Rs119.60 billion 286,000 acres of land will be irrigated in the southern region of the province. Another project is the construction of Malkoh irrigation scheme Chitral Rs5,000 million will provide water to 15,000 acres of land. Increasing storage capacity and improvement in the command area of Tanda Dam Kohat will cost 4,500 million, which will provide irrigation water to 25,000 acres of barren land in Kohat district.
