Coastal farmers call out untimely water rotation in canals

HYDERABAD: The irrigation department will start annual rotation in the canal system from January 6, 2022 as per an announcement, but coastal farmers allege that their watercourses, taking water from Kaleri Baghar (KB) feeder (Karachi wah), were stopped on December 25, 2021.

The situation would have been dire, had nature not bestowed these farmers with rain showers amid the current cold wave.

Now, they said that the standing crops, mainly wheat and seasonal vegetables like chilli and tomato, would benefit from the moisture and would not need more water for at least 15 days after the showers.

Information gathered from the coastal areas shows that many farmers have bought boats and adopted fishing as a side profession after witnessing many ups and downs in the weather.

Now, they carry out both as farmers and fishermen, depending on what would allow them to put food on their tables.

Traditionally, the irrigation department allows 4,000-5,000 cusecs water to flow downstream Kotri barrage for drinking purposes in the wide riverine catchment area of Thatta and parts of Sujawal districts, before starting rotation in the last week of December. Due to the shortage this season, some farmers from the riverine areas have cultivated wheat by taking water from thin streams through lift machines.

However, rains have benefited farmers across the board.

In addition to the moisture benefit, growers also believe that the crops would now be better protected against expected viral diseases, while soil would maintain its fertility.

Fertilisers remain in short supply across all the ecological zones in Sindh, farmers said, while lamenting the cost of the input. They fear wheat yields would be hit due to the increasing input costs, as well as water shortage in the tail end areas.

Struck by the rising costs of inputs, water shortages, poor seed quality as well as unauthorised chemicals, the agriculture sector has suffered in terms of total output.

The current ending year has reminded growers that the country, which used to export cotton, sugar, wheat flour and many other products, including vegetables, was now importing the commodities to meet domestic needs.

“We have potential to produce more cotton, sugar, wheat, vegetables and other products to feed the nation and provide a source of livelihood to the rural people associated with agriculture.

Despite this, we are importing even wheat, cotton, sugar and vegetables from neighbouring countries,” said Nawab Zubair Talpur, president Sindh Growers Alliance (SGA).

“Tail end areas neither received water to cultivate more land nor were they able to save their standing crops this year because of poor governance in the irrigation water distribution system,” he said.

The SGA leader said hardly a few months ago DAP was available at Rs3,000/bag, which climbed up to Rs8,000/bag.

“Government set the new price for DAP at Rs8,100/bag, but in the market, it is not available at even Rs10,000/bag. Similarly, official price of urea is set at Rs1,768/ bag, but it is not easily accessible at Rs3,000-Rs3,400/bag,” Talpur said.

“Fertilizer is available only in the black market at high prices, which small-scale farmers cannot afford to buy,” he added. Another issue currently haunting farmers is the sale of substandard urea in the market, and that too on high rates.

Giving an example, they said a few days ago the Matli police in Badin district found a trailer loaded with substandard fertiliser. But despite the news appearing in the media, there was no information about the criminals doing the ugly business.

Talking about water scarcity in tail-end areas, Ghulam Hussain, a small-scale grower from Kaloi, Tharparkar district said in early October, many farmers cultivate wheat and mustard crops, but they did not receive the water on time.

He said farmers in tail-end areas like Naokot and Kaloi in Tharparkar, and parts of Mirpurkhas, Badin and Sujawal districts had prepared lands to cultivate wheat in October, but sudden closure of canals meant they were not able to use their lands.

“Last year my family had cultivated wheat on 22 acres of land, but this year we hardly covered eight acres,” he said.

Hussain said DAP was must for the land before sowing wheat. After that the farmers need urea when they first water the crop.

But due to sudden disappearance of both fertilisers, they were now facing hardship in saving their crops.

Growers said Punjab government has deputed officials at tehsil level to avoid uncertainty regarding urea shortage and assured farmers of providing the essential input at official rates. But in Sindh the authorities were reluctant to take action against manipulators to ensure provision of urea, they claimed.

To save crops and demand the Sindh government to intervene in the urea crisis, leading farmer organisations have designed a protest schedule, which includes blockade of highways in Mirpurkhas, Hyderabad and other areas.

On top of that, they also face the looming water crisis which happens on the back of the rotation process starting January 6.