Wheat farmers are having sleepless nights due to an uncertain future as devastating floods have damaged crops and left the farmers in a difficult situation. A KP irrigation department official told WealthPK that the floods started from Mataltan, Mahudhand and Kalam valleys in Upper Swat and brought havoc to irrigation sector, especially canals, watercourses, tubewells and flood protection walls. He said the reconstruction process requires huge financial resources and time. Reconstruction and restoration of water sources for agricultural purpose is also a big challenge for the government and years will be required for rebuilding destroyed irrigation infrastructures, he said.

Besides destroying lift irrigation and SCARP projects, watercourses, rivers and canal embankments in the flood-hit Hazara, Malakand, Peshawar, Bannu and DI Khan divisions, he said, the floods inflicted about Rs22.387 billion losses on the irrigation infrastructure in Khyber Pakthunkhwa. “The velocity of August 28 floods was so high that it not only swept away canals and flood protection walls but also destroyed tubewells and lift-canal irrigation schemes in KP, creating a lot of problems for wheat growers,” he said. The official said irrigation supplies to vast agricultural lands were disrupted, which left the province with limited supplies of irrigation water for wheat sowing.

He feared that existing standing crops in non-flood areas would get perished and food security issues might be aggravated in future if irrigation supplies system was not restored on a priority basis in KP. While referring to surveys and field formations’ reports, he said out of Rs22.387 billion damages, about Rs3.245 billion losses were incurred on flood mitigation and drainage infrastructure projects with an accumulative length of 90 kilometres as well as 237 irrigation structures in the province. He said it would not be possible to accommodate the same within the allocated budget for the irrigation department.

To ensure early restoration of flood mitigation structures and water drainage system, he said the irrigation department had proposed a mega project i.e. “Restoration of irrigation structures and water drainage system” worth Rs3.245 billion as a non-ADP scheme. The official said KP’s canals irrigated about 2.25 million acres of agriculture lands including fields to cater food requirements of the growing population. He said out of Rs22.387 billion flood damages to the irrigation sector, Rs2.547 billion losses were estimated to water supply schemes including canals and irrigation structures in Swat, Kohistan, Dir, Charsadda, Nowshera, Tank and DI Khan.

The official said about 180-kilometre canals sections along with 537 irrigation structures and 11 irrigation augmentation tubewells were affected during the floods. Another mega project “Restoration of water supplies and channels in irrigation system” worth Rs2.457billion had been proposed for KP as non-ADP scheme, he said. He said PC-I of both the projects were approved and practical work on restoration of canals and irrigation structures would start to help farmers. Malayar Khan, a resident of Nowshera, is among the farmers who have lost houses and standing crops in flash floods. Khan is worried about preparation of his agricultural land for upcoming wheat sowing and how to water the crop due to destruction of water channels and canals.Belonging to flood-hit Mohib Banda area on Kabul river, Khan regularly visited his hometown canal originating from Bara river to check water’s availability after it was badly damaged by Aug 28 floods.

“The wheat sowing season is about to start in our area and there is no water in our hometown canal due to destruction caused by flash floods,” he said. He said agriculture production would be hit if canals were not restored on a priority basis in KP’s flood-hit areas. Besides repairs of damaged canals and watercourses, he said, levelling of agricultural land in the flood-affected areas such as Mohib Banda, Pasthun Ghari and Banda Sheikh Ismail near Kabul river was also a big challenge in the post-flood situation and substantial financial resources were required to help farmers, gardeners and livestock owners.Like Khan, other farmers of Mohib Banda and adjoining villages of Nowshera and Charsadda districts are worried about preparation of their lands for wheat sowing in the wake of damaged canal system and urge the government to reconstruct the watercourses, canals and irrigation channels at the earliest to help wheat growers.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk