Despite several water-storage projects being built, no significant addition has been made in water availability in the country, due to their gestation period, which is steadily widening the supply-demand gap for water.
An official working at the ministry of National Food Security told that being the lifeline for all agricultural activities, water was very crucial to achieve agricultural growth targets. However despite strenuous efforts, water availability is either stagnant or dwindling. During the fiscal year 2011-12 an amount of 137.1 million acre feet (MAF) became available due to contributions of both water sources i.e. surface water 86.9 MAF and ground water 50.2 MAF against an estimated availability of 140.5 MAF.
The official said that the main reason behind low availability was a decrease in the contribution by ground water, because of high diesel and electricity prices. Below-normal temperatures in April and May 2012 slowed down the glacier melting process, squeezing the surface water supply for Kharif season crops of 2012. Keeping in view of the developments in the water sector, around 142 MAF water would become available in 2012-13 for agricultural use.
The agricultural sector is one of the major consumers of energy in Pakistan, particularly because of the extensive tube-well network across the country. About one fourth of the existing tube-wells use electricity for operation, whereas the remaining three forth are diesel fuel operated. In both categories it is becoming increasingly expensive to keep them functional as most of the pumps operate at only thirty percent efficiency.
Officials further told that frequent increases in electric power tariff and prices of imported diesel are augmenting the cost of crop production. There is a need to invest in alternative energy sources and high efficiency irrigation system to sustain agricultural irrigation in the country.
