Suchergebnisse

Waterlogging and salinity have plagued irrigated agriculture in the Indus Basin for the past 30-40 years. Approximately 6 million ha (35-40% of total irrigated area) experience these twin problems. As a result, the production potential of the Indus Basin has been reduced by 25%. Over the last 40 years, the Government of Pakistan has adopted engineering, reclamation, and biological measures to address these problems. Part of the engineering solution involved large-scale Salinity Control and Reclamation Projects (SCARPs) in all four provinces. The program covered 8 million ha and cost approximately US$2 billion. Two big disposal projects were also initiated to solve the drainage disposal problems. To address the saline soil problem, some of the measures tested include leaching of salts by excess irrigation, use of chemicals (such as gypsum and acids), and addition of organic matter and biological measures (such as salt-tolerant plants, grasses, and shrubs). The success of these initiatives has been limited: 35-40% of irrigated land still suffers from high water tables and moderate to severe salinity. Lack of coordination among federal and provincial governments, research institutes, and national and international organizations; conventional farming and irrigation methods used by farmers; limited attention to reclamation and saline agricultural approaches; and lack of resources are some of the reasons for the low success rate. A more concerted effort that includes a greater focus on saline agriculture, capacity building of farmers, and promotion of local interventions to improve self-reliance is necessary for the management of salinity in the Indus Basin. A sustainable solution would also require coordination among different provinces and strengthening of federal and provincial government agencies.

In Jehangir, Waqar A.; Hussain, Intizar (Eds.). Poverty reduction through improved agricultural water management. Proceedings of the Workshop on Pro-poor Intervention Strategies in Irrigated Agriculture in Asia, Islamabad, Pakistan, 23-24 April 2003. Lahore, Pakistan: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). ; Rapidly increasing trends of poverty, particularly in South Asia, have emerged as a major threat to the economic development of this region. Currently, over 500 million South Asians live in absolute poverty, while over 300 million are chronically malnourished. In Pakistan, vulnerable population of 45 million makes 25 percent of those living in poverty due to economic downturn. Although food production in the region has gained momentum during the past decade (per capita dietary energy supply in South Asia has increased), the incidence of poverty and absolute number of undernourished people in South Asia has gone up. This means that crisis of food insecurity in the region is mostly related to low access rather than low availability. The major reasons for this low access are poor targeting policies of the government and inefficient public distribution system. Therefore, to ensure food security, the government should improve accessibility and distribution of food to poor, particularly those in far-flung areas. Three quarters of the world?s total irrigated area is in developing countries where smallholder agriculture still predominates. No wonder, then, that increased agricultural production is considered a key to poverty reduction in many developing countries. Irrigated agriculture is regarded to be vehicle for the provision of basic needs and reduction in vulnerability to food insecurity. Irrigation development can bring a range of potential benefits at regional and national level. Therefore, by advances in irrigation management, better understanding of the environment in which poor people live, right choices of irrigation technologies, better defining production functions and creating profitable markets can make a significant contribution to crop production and poverty reduction. This paper discusses illusions in different poverty estimates and introduces a framework to increase regional food security. The paper is also aimed at finding the ways to reduce poverty through improving irrigated agriculture.

Agriculture is at the forefront of the development objectives of the republics of Central Asia (CA). Since independence in 1991, these countries have undergone transitions from being centrally planned economies to market-oriented systems, which did not include the creation of agricultural extension systems. This paper provides information on the current status of the agricultural extension systems in CA with special reference to Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. We reviewed the existing extension strategies, donor- and state-driven initiatives to revitalize the agricultural extension systems, informal linkages that nongovernmental organizations play in helping a limited number of farmers, and provided recommendations on ways to further improve the agricultural extension services in CA. The information related to each country was analyzed separately. This is because, after independence, each republic in CA had initiated their agricultural reforms with specific objectives and has now established their unique agricultural systems that differ contextually. However, due to having the same history and agricultural system that existed during the Soviet times, we tried to give a historical perspective to the unified agricultural extension system that existed before independence.

Waterlogging and salinization are major impediment to the sustainability of irrigated lands and livelihoods of the farmers, especially the smallholders, in the affected areas of the Indus Basin. These problems are the result of a multitude of factors, including seepage from unlined earthen canals system, inadequate provision of surface and subsurface drainage, poor water management practices, insufficient water supplies and use of poor quality groundwater for irrigation. About 6.3 million ha are affected by different levels and types of salinity, out of which nearly half are under irrigated agriculture. Since the early 1960s, several efforts have been made to improve the management of salt-affected and waterlogged soils. These include lowering groundwater levels through deep tubewells, leaching of salts by excess irrigation, application of chemical amendments (e.g. gypsum, acids, organic matter), and the use of biological and physical methods. However, in spite of huge investments, the results have in general been disappointing and the problems of waterlogging and salinity persist. This paper reviews sources, causes and extent of salinity and waterlogging problems in the Indus Basin. Measures taken to overcome these problems over the last four decades are also discussed. The results reveal that the installed drainage systems were initially successful in lowering groundwater table and reducing salinity in affected areas. However, poor operation and maintenance of these systems and provision of inadequate facilities for the disposal of saline drainage effluent resulted in limited overall success. The paper suggests that to ensure the sustainability of irrigated agriculture in the Indus Basin, technical and financial support is needed and enhanced institutional arrangements including coordination among different federal and provincial government agencies to resolve inter-provincial water allocation and water related issues is required.