National Programme for Improvement of Watercourses (NPIWC)

Agriculture is the mainstay of Pakistan’s economy. Nearly one forth of total output (GDP) and 44% of employment is generated in agriculture. It also contributes substantially to Pakistan’s exports. Agriculture also contributes to growth as supplier of raw material to industry as well as market for industry products not only that 44% of country’s work forces are employed in agriculture but 67% of country population living in rural areas are directly or indirectly linked with agriculture for their livelihood. What ever happens to agriculture is bound to affect not only the country’s growth performance but also to a larger segment of country’s population as well. Like in south Asia poverty in Pakistan is largely a rural phenomenon and agriculture will have to play a critical role to fight against poverty in the country. It is because of its central importance in reviving economic growth and reducing poverty that the Government has identified agriculture as one of the major driver of growth.

The agriculture sector, of late been operating close to its limits as far as quality of land and water resources are concerned. Any significant improvement in performance of the agriculture sector can only be achieved by increasing the farming intensity and by increasing the overall productively of the sector. The implied increase in crop yields can only be achieved by careful use of modern inputs. Similarly increased farming intensity which is constrained by water scarcity can only be achieved by a more efficient use of scare surface and ground water resources. The solution of water scarcity must lie in more efficient use of existing water resources. Structural weaknesses and physical constraints reduce overall efficiency of irrigation system. These constraints include insufficient storage on system to allow for optimum timings of flows, unequal distribution, long unlined channels, fragmentation of land holdings seepage from watercourses and inefficient field irrigation.

Pakistan possesses the world’s largest contiguous irrigation system commonly called as Indus Basin Irrigation System (IBIS). It commands an area of about 14.3 million hectares (35 million acres) and encompasses the Indus River and its major tributaries. The system includes three large reservoirs (Tarbela, Mangla and Cashma), 23 barrages / head works / siphons, 12 inter river links and 45 Canal Command extending for about 60,800 Km to serve over 86,003 farmer operated watercourses.

Sindh has three barrages on the Indus River that drive approximately 45 MAF to 48 MAF of water annually to the 14 main canal commands, the canal system has an aggregate length of 11,916 miles (19,066 Km) of canals which serve a gross area (GCA) of 14.391 million acres (5.8 million ha). There are about 47134 W/Cs (tertiary channels) in Sindh Irrigation System, which has an aggregate length of about 75,000 miles (120,000 Km). Out of 47134 (approx.), only 7576 W/Cs were improved by On Farm Water Management Sindh (OFWM) before launching SOFWMP and NPIW in 2004. Under SOFWMP and NPIW about 19,947 (approx.) W/Cs have been lined in Sindh up to now. Resultantly seepage and operational losses of irrigation water have been decreased at large, as the losses are particularly high at W/Cs level. In saline groundwater areas, these are generally irretrievable. It has been reported that about 78% of the area in Sindh Province is underlain by saline groundwater, which is unsuitable for irrigation. Close to the edges of the irrigated lands, fresh ground water can be found at low depth from ground surface. Indiscriminate pumping has resulted in contamination of the aquifer at many places where salinity of tube well water has increased.

Rural Sindh is highly dependent on irrigated agriculture. Thus reform dependent on irrigated agricultural in water sector to improve irrigation efficiencies has a major role to improve the well being of people and alleviate poverty areas of Sindh.

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