Pakistan is one of those countries which have been honored
with countless blessing of nature. The country has a lot of accumulations of
natural resources; while on the other hand, it has a variety of four seasons
which help the population to enjoy all the tastes of natural lifestyle. The
most beautiful gift of nature for this part of land is its fertile fields which
are irrigated through a colossal network of irrigation. This contiguous network
is helping to fulfill the water needs of agriculture and livestock in full
swing even after more than hundred years after its inception.
The idea to develop irrigation system in the subcontinent was
to provide water for the purpose of agriculture in cultivated lands as well as
to make the barren lands fertile. For this purpose, local cultivators were
provided the pieces of land on lease in different areas with the condition that
they will be bound to develop the infertile lands within a set period of time.
The irrigation system in Punjab has been set up under a well
thought-out plan to provide water for agronomy. This system has been highly
efficient for decades but unfortunately, with the passage of time, it has
become insufficient to fulfill the foodstuff needs of growing population in
Pakistan. One of the primary reasons of system’s inefficiency has been
considered the lack of resources. Keeping in view the ground realities, the
experts decided to include the stakeholder of irrigation system in its
management. The government considered the matter as its priority and the then
Chief Minister Punjab Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif in 1997 decided to make the
farming community an integral part of irrigation management. It was a milestone
to strengthen the concept of public private partnership in the rural areas of
Pakistan. Muhammad Sahahbaz Sahrif got the Punjab Irrigation and Drainage
Authority Act 1997 passed through Assembly and founded a new organization named
Punjab Irrigation and Drainage Authority (PIDA). The participation of
beneficiaries in water management is not the new occurrence in Pakistan this
experience has proved its results in many countries of the world. The Turkish,
Egyptian, Mexican and Japanese models of participatory irrigation management
are some of the successful examples in this regard. It would not be out of
question to state that any program cannot produce desired result without the
inception of its beneficiaries. The governmental decision of participatory
irrigation management was highly eulogized by the farming community of Punjab
with the declaration to prove the government trust bestowed upon it.
Under the spirit of irrigation sector reforms program in
Punjab, PIDA established Pilot Area Water Board at Lower Chenab Canal (East) Circle
Faisalabad where 85 Farmer Organizations were established in 2005 at
distributary canal level equipped with required capacity. These organizations
were also provided with institutional support in technical, management and
revenue collection aspects of irrigation mechanism. These organizations showed
remarkable results in curtailing water theft and the dispute resolutions of
farmers at their doorsteps. Similarly, the government also got rid of huge
administrative expenditures on the maintenance of these water channels. It
resulted because the farmer organizations were also given the mandate to
collect water charges from water users and maintain their canals on self-help
basis. The pilot farmer organizations completed their three years tenure
successfully and later on new farmer organizations were elected for another
term of three years and performed their functions as per rules and regulations.
The PIDA authorities regularly monitor the functioning of
farmer organizations which helps in framing the further policy regarding
participatory irrigation management model as well as to enhance their
professional capacity.
After the experiences of pilot area water board, the
government decided to enhance the irrigation sector reforms program and
established 67 farmer organizations in Lower Chenab Canal (West) Area Water
Board Faisalabad, 69 in Bahawalnagar Area Water Board and 52 in Lower Bari Doab
Canal Area Water Board, Sahiwal. Similarly, government especially focused on the
southern areas of Punjab and given participation to farmers in irrigation
management by establishing 120 organizations in the area water board of Dera
Jaat Canal Circle, Dera Ghazi Khan. These organizations are responsible for the
maintenance of their canals, equitable distribution of water, collection of
water charges and dispute resolutions. The farmer organizations have ushered in
a new revolution in the rural areas; they have developed a sense of ownership and
pride among the stakeholders with the realization that the irrigation system
had been set up in the interest of farming community which is serving to meet
the food needs of the whole of Pakistan. Various
policy makers have termed the Chief Minister Shahbaz Shirif’s role as pivotal in
ensuring farmers’ participation in irrigation management and observed that the
Punjab government has done a marvelous job by organizing the rural community
through the platform of farmer organizations. It helped in reconstruction and
rehabilitation of canal infrastructure. Government reforms have also made
necessary capacity building of the rural population.
It is pertinent to mention here that government is well aware
to enhance and maintain the efficiency of irrigation network according to
changing needs of time. In this regard, Lower Chenab Canal Rehabilitation
Project has recently been completed with the cost of Rs. 17000 millions. Under
this project, lining work of main and branch canals in selective areas has also
been completed. Similarly, Punjab
Irrigation System Improvement Project (PISIP) is fast underway in collaboration
with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to improve the distributary
canals in the selective areas of Faisalabad, Bahawalnagar and Dera Ghazi Khan
Canal Zones. This project also has helped to train the local human resource
involved in the betterment of irrigation infrastructure and the introduction of
modern water saving techniques. An amount of Rs. 6000 million will be incurred
under this project. On the other hand, Punjab has the oldest irrigation system
known as Lower Bari Doab Canal which is being improved and rehabilitated with
the financial cooperation of Rs. 17000 million from Asian Development
Bank. The government is of the view that
after the completion of these mega projects, the irrigation system of Punjab
will be able to produce desired results in the supply of water up to tail ends
of distributaries and the agro production will also be enhanced manifold.
It is expected that irrigation sector reforms program will
contribute a lot in fulfilling the food needs of the whole population of the
country and the dream of food autarky will be fulfilled.