KARACHI - Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Friday directed all the divisional commissioners to ensure implementation of a complete ban on rice cultivation in areas along perennial canals to save these areas from water-logging, salinity and seepage.
This, he said on Monday, while presiding over a high-level meeting held at CM’s House. The meeting was specially attended by MNA Khursheed Shah while Minister Agriculture Ismail Rahu, Minister Irrigation Nasir Shah, Special Assistant to CM Ashfaq Memon, Principal Secretary to CM Sajid Jamal Abro, Secretary Irrigation Jamal Shah, Secretary Agriculture Special, Special Secretary Irrigation Aslam Ansari, Commissioner Karachi Iftikhar Shahlwani and other divisional commissioners, their deputy commissioners and concerned irrigation engineers also attended the meeting through video link.
The chief minister said that the cultivation of rice on perennial canals such as Ghotki Feeder, Rohri Canal and Nara Canal has been causing water-logging, salinity, seepage and damage to land. He added that a notification for the purpose has already been issued.
Mr Shah said that rice is a high delta crop with water requirement of 70-acres inches, therefore it required more irrigation water as compared to cotton and other kharif crops. He said that water requirement of cotton crop is 36-acre inches, therefore as compared to cotton crop, the rice cultivation need about 94 percent more canal water for one acre.
It was pointed out in the meeting that NW and Dadu Canals were designed for dry crops but cultivation of rice has been allowed there for food security since world war-II. The chief minister directed Commissioner Hyderabad Abbas Baloch to talk to the growers of Dadu Canal and convince them to switch over to low delta crops. “This is the time we have to switch over to low delta and high yield crops due to water shortage and water logging issue,” he stressed.
It was pointed out in the meeting that cotton sowing in Sindh starts in May and rice cultivation starts in June, therefore the chief minister directed irrigation department to release water to the perineal canals in May so that they start sowing cotton. If water supplies are delayed then the growers would opt for rice.
The chief minister constituted a committee of Irrigation, Agriculture and Revenue department’s secretaries committee to work out a detailed plan for release of irrigational water and launching a drive to convince growers to switch over to low delta crops.
The chief minister directed the divisional commissioners to implement the ban on cultivation of rice in perennial canal’s command area through strict administration. The agriculture department was directed to guide and facilitate the growers for switching over to other crops. It may be noted that rice is the second largest cereal crop of Sindh in terms of area and production. Sindh contributes 23.6 percent in area and 38 percent in production of rice at national level.