Drip Irrigation: Can Pakistan Make its Deserts Bloom?
Large tracts of desert in Cholistan, Kharan and Thar land lay barren in Pakistan today. Can some parts of these deserts be made to bloom given the worsening water crisis in the country with per capita water availability approaching 900 cubic meters? How does Pakistan improve long term food security for its growing population? The answer to both lies in efficient water management through effective drip irrigation.
What is Drip Irrigation:
Drip irrigation is a micro-irrigation system using tubing that saves water and nutrients by allowing water to drip slowly into the roots of plants, either from above the soil surface or buried below the surface. It puts water directly into the roots and minimizes evaporation.
Water mixed with fertilizer is carried out through tubes which release a small amounts of water per minute directly to the roots of each plant. Precision watering cuts evaporation, run off, and waste.
More Crop Per Drop:
Agriculture uses over 90% of all available fresh water in Pakistan. "More crop per drop" program focuses on improving water use efficiency by promoting drip and sprinkler irrigation in agriculture in Pakistan.
The Punjab government started this effort with the World Bank with $250 million investment. The World Bank is now providing additional $130 million financing for the Punjab Irrigated Agriculture Productivity Improvement Program Phase-I.
The project is the Punjab Government's initiative called High-Efficiency Irrigation Systems (HEIS) to more than doubles the efficiency of water use. Under the project, drip irrigation systems have been installed on about 26,000 acres, and 5,000 laser leveling units have been provided. The additional financing will ensure completion of 120,000 acres with ponds in saline areas and for rainwater harvesting, and filtration systems for drinking water where possible, according to the World Bank.
Cost of Drip Irrigation System:
Most crops are not irrigated with the drip method due to higher costs. In the United States and Spain, where the technology is used most, it comprises 6.75 and 2.75 percent of the total irrigated area, respectively, according to the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage. Farmers are offered subsidies to encourage the use of drip irrigation in most countries as a way of conserving precious water.
Subsidies in Punjab, Pakistan:
Punjab provincial government is subsidizing up to 60% of the cost of installing new drip irrigation systems, according to Business Recorder newspaper. Director General Agriculture (Water Management) Malik Muhammad Akram said that latest irrigation techniques ensure availability of water and fertilizer in time to the plants and it also ensure uniform supply of these two major ingredients to all the plants in a field. It helps attaining more per acre yield with minimum agricultural inputs, he added, according to the paper.
There's at least one example of public-private partnership to promote drip irrigation in Sheikhupura near Lahore. The installation has been carried out by Nestlé Pakistan in collaboration with the Government of Punjab, covering 40% and 60% of the farmer’s cost respectively. The Agricultural Efficiency Project was initiated in the year 2017 and has so far covered 109 acres of land in 2018 with an estimated 280 million liters of water saved, according to a Nestle press release.
Using drip irrigation, farmers can save up to 95% of water and reduce fertilizer use, compared to surface irrigation, according to Malik Mohammad Akram. In flood irrigation – the traditional method of agriculture in the region – a farmer uses 412,000 liters per acre, while using drip irrigation the same land can be irrigated with just 232,000 liters of water, he explained to Zofeen Ibrahim of The Third Pole that covers Asia's water crisis.
Success Stories:
Writing for The Third Pole, Zofeen Ebrahim has cited a couple of success stories of farmers receiving Punjab government's drip irrigation subsidies: The stories of ex IT Engineer Hasan Abdullah and Infiniti Agro and Livestock Farm.
Hasan Abdulla is has planted an orchard on his 40-acre plot in Cholistan Desert. He has orange, lemon olive trees which are now fruiting three years after planting. He is among the first farmers experimenting with drip irrigation.While Abdullah was saving water, the cost of diesel for running water pump was proving astronomical. It would have been difficult for Abdullah to continue farming with drip irrigation had the government not announced an 80% subsidy on solar power plants for farmers in 2018. He promptly took it up.
Asif Riaz Taj, who manages Infiniti Agro and Livestock Farm in Bahawalpur, heard of Abdulla's drip irrigation project and paid him a visit. He like it and decided to follow the example. Now in their fourth year, the Infiniti orchards have started fruiting over 70 acres. But it will not be before its sixth year, Taj said, that they will “break even”. The drip irrigation and solar plant was installed at a cost of PKR 25 million (USD 174,000), and the monthly running cost of this farm is almost PKR 4 million (USD 28,000).
Summary:
Pakistan faces a severe water crisis that threatens the nation's long term food security. The country needs to expand area under cultivation while efficiently managing its precious water resources. It needs to make parts of its deserts bloom. The best way to do it efficient water management through effective drip irrigation. Such projects are expensive to implement. The Punjab government is offering up to 60% subsidy to farmers to encourage wider use of drip irrigation.
Related Links:
Haq's Musings
South Asia Investor Review
Pakistan Water Crisis: Facts and Myths
Groundwater Depletion in Pakistan
Water Scarce Pakistan
Cycles of Drought and Floods in Pakistan
Pakistan to Build Massive Dams
Dust Bowl in Thar Desert Region
Dasht River in Balochistan
 |
| Drip Irrigation |
What is Drip Irrigation:
Drip irrigation is a micro-irrigation system using tubing that saves water and nutrients by allowing water to drip slowly into the roots of plants, either from above the soil surface or buried below the surface. It puts water directly into the roots and minimizes evaporation.
Water mixed with fertilizer is carried out through tubes which release a small amounts of water per minute directly to the roots of each plant. Precision watering cuts evaporation, run off, and waste.
More Crop Per Drop:
Agriculture uses over 90% of all available fresh water in Pakistan. "More crop per drop" program focuses on improving water use efficiency by promoting drip and sprinkler irrigation in agriculture in Pakistan.
The Punjab government started this effort with the World Bank with $250 million investment. The World Bank is now providing additional $130 million financing for the Punjab Irrigated Agriculture Productivity Improvement Program Phase-I.
The project is the Punjab Government's initiative called High-Efficiency Irrigation Systems (HEIS) to more than doubles the efficiency of water use. Under the project, drip irrigation systems have been installed on about 26,000 acres, and 5,000 laser leveling units have been provided. The additional financing will ensure completion of 120,000 acres with ponds in saline areas and for rainwater harvesting, and filtration systems for drinking water where possible, according to the World Bank.
Cost of Drip Irrigation System:
Most crops are not irrigated with the drip method due to higher costs. In the United States and Spain, where the technology is used most, it comprises 6.75 and 2.75 percent of the total irrigated area, respectively, according to the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage. Farmers are offered subsidies to encourage the use of drip irrigation in most countries as a way of conserving precious water.
Subsidies in Punjab, Pakistan:
Punjab provincial government is subsidizing up to 60% of the cost of installing new drip irrigation systems, according to Business Recorder newspaper. Director General Agriculture (Water Management) Malik Muhammad Akram said that latest irrigation techniques ensure availability of water and fertilizer in time to the plants and it also ensure uniform supply of these two major ingredients to all the plants in a field. It helps attaining more per acre yield with minimum agricultural inputs, he added, according to the paper.
There's at least one example of public-private partnership to promote drip irrigation in Sheikhupura near Lahore. The installation has been carried out by Nestlé Pakistan in collaboration with the Government of Punjab, covering 40% and 60% of the farmer’s cost respectively. The Agricultural Efficiency Project was initiated in the year 2017 and has so far covered 109 acres of land in 2018 with an estimated 280 million liters of water saved, according to a Nestle press release.
Using drip irrigation, farmers can save up to 95% of water and reduce fertilizer use, compared to surface irrigation, according to Malik Mohammad Akram. In flood irrigation – the traditional method of agriculture in the region – a farmer uses 412,000 liters per acre, while using drip irrigation the same land can be irrigated with just 232,000 liters of water, he explained to Zofeen Ibrahim of The Third Pole that covers Asia's water crisis.
Success Stories:
Writing for The Third Pole, Zofeen Ebrahim has cited a couple of success stories of farmers receiving Punjab government's drip irrigation subsidies: The stories of ex IT Engineer Hasan Abdullah and Infiniti Agro and Livestock Farm.
Hasan Abdulla is has planted an orchard on his 40-acre plot in Cholistan Desert. He has orange, lemon olive trees which are now fruiting three years after planting. He is among the first farmers experimenting with drip irrigation.While Abdullah was saving water, the cost of diesel for running water pump was proving astronomical. It would have been difficult for Abdullah to continue farming with drip irrigation had the government not announced an 80% subsidy on solar power plants for farmers in 2018. He promptly took it up.
Asif Riaz Taj, who manages Infiniti Agro and Livestock Farm in Bahawalpur, heard of Abdulla's drip irrigation project and paid him a visit. He like it and decided to follow the example. Now in their fourth year, the Infiniti orchards have started fruiting over 70 acres. But it will not be before its sixth year, Taj said, that they will “break even”. The drip irrigation and solar plant was installed at a cost of PKR 25 million (USD 174,000), and the monthly running cost of this farm is almost PKR 4 million (USD 28,000).
Summary:
Pakistan faces a severe water crisis that threatens the nation's long term food security. The country needs to expand area under cultivation while efficiently managing its precious water resources. It needs to make parts of its deserts bloom. The best way to do it efficient water management through effective drip irrigation. Such projects are expensive to implement. The Punjab government is offering up to 60% subsidy to farmers to encourage wider use of drip irrigation.
Related Links:
Haq's Musings
South Asia Investor Review
Pakistan Water Crisis: Facts and Myths
Groundwater Depletion in Pakistan
Water Scarce Pakistan
Cycles of Drought and Floods in Pakistan
Pakistan to Build Massive Dams
Dust Bowl in Thar Desert Region
Dasht River in Balochistan
Comments
https://www.dawn.com/news/1350114
Since this command area is not connected with off-taking canal of the dam through watercourses, an ad-hoc arrangement has been made to ensure water supply at least to small farmers to enable them cultivate winter and summer crops. Farmers are using pipes to lift water downstream of the dam.
The dam, a federally funded project, was completed in August 2014 by a Chinese company. Its construction started during the previous government’s tenure in January 2010. It is located some 135 kilometres north-east of Karachi and 70km west of Hyderabad, and is built on Nai Baran, a hill torrent in Jamshoro district.
Spread over 10,500 acres, the dam’s reservoir area upstream lies in Jamshoro district with a storage capacity of 121,600 acre-feet.
At present, 33,000 acre-feet of water is available in the reservoir. The level, which was 50,800 acre-feet in August 2016, has dropped after flows were ensured for cultivation of onion and wheat crops during the last year. Presently, farmers are getting water for cotton and vegetable sowing.
Zahid Sheikh, superintending engineer at the Sindh irrigation department, says a study on the topography of the dam’s command area is under way to assess which kind of high efficiency system — sprinkler or drip — suits this rain-fed area considering the fact how water travels in the hilly terrain.
The irrigation department does not seem to take control of the dam even by early next year as it lacks expertise, officials say
While the Sindh government has to build an irrigation system, the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) is also in the process of bidding two pilot projects on 10 acres each to be connected with drip and sprinkler systems on farmers’ land to see results of per-acre productivity.
The dam’s project director, Iqbal Sheikh, says bidding is already under way for this purpose but it is not part of the whole project which stands completed. The pilot projects would be completed in one and a half years and would be monitored by Wapda.
The project is reported have hit by cost overruns, and Wapda is seeking a second revision of its PC-I, a project document which covers almost all aspects of the project.
The first revision of the PC-I was approved at Rs9.3 billion by the federal government after it was conceived at Rs3.175bn in September 2009. PC-I would now be revised at Rs11.67bn by the Executive Committee of National Economic Council.
An amount of Rs6.37 billion has been paid to the dam’s Chinese contractor whose liabilities have now accumulated. Sources say the federal government has earmarked Rs800m for the project under the current fiscal year’s Public Sector Development Programme.
Wapda has set up 73 outlets with a main line canal and three distributaries that can irrigate 25,000 acres on the right and left banks of the canal that has a designed discharge of 156 cubic feet per second (cusecs) and stretches over nearly 46km.
The entire command area is to be connected with watercourses to be built by the irrigation department. Smallholders say that with the current storage they are able to grow wheat and onion since October 2016.
Dasrat Kumar, a farmer of the area, says that presently more than 1,500 acres of land is being cultivated and the farmers’ produce finds its way to Karachi, mostly through the middleman as farmers get payment in advance to buy inputs.
Another elderly farmer, Noor Ahmed, says that the “rate of evaporation and water losses remains very high as our land in this hilly tract remains dry most of the year”.
https://www.urdupoint.com/en/pakistan/4557-maf-water-storage-capacity-added-in-las-623652.html#.XPSPL6jhPLE.twitter
The government is actively working for development of small, medium and large water storage reservoirs in the country and added 4.557 million acre feet (MAF) storage capacity during last 10 years.
Giving the details, officials sources told APP here on Friday, that some 2.880 MAF was added through Mangla Raising dam, 0.892 MAF Gomal Zam dam, 0.053 MAF Satpara dam, 0.089 MAF Darawat dam, 0.152 MAF Mirani dam and 0.014 MAF Sabakzai dams.
Similarly, 0.278 MAF water storage capacity has also been added by constructing various small dams during said period, they said.
The projects included 0.087 MAF ISSO Barriers Sindh, 0.014 MAF Palai, Kundal, KP, 0.021 MAF 20 small dams, KP, 0.032 MAF reconstruction of Shadi Kaur dam, 0.039 MAF and 0.068 MAF 100 delay action dams (Balochistan) and 0.
068 MAF rehabilitation of Akra Kaur dam Balochistan.
They said the government has already acquired 85 per cent land for Diamer Basha dam which would store 6.4 MAF. A sum of Rs 2000 million has also been allocated for Mohmand dam which would store 0.676 MAF water.
The sources said a storage capacity of 4.965 MAF of existing reservoirs had been lost due to sedimentation. Studies showed that additional 0.75 MAF would be lost due to sedimentation by 2025, they said.
They said additional reservoirs were required for inter season and inter year transfer of water.
They said that per capita water availability in the Pakistan was 5,260 cubic meter per annum in 1951 which had been reduced to 908 cubic meters per annum in 2018 due to ever increasing trend of populations.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pakistan-water-protests/as-water-disappears-parched-southern-pakistan-farmers-march-north-idUSKCN1U31YM
As shopkeeper Ali Akbar went to open his store last week along the main street of Thatta, in Pakistan’s Sindh province, he found himself wading through a sea of people who had blocked the road, causing an enormous traffic jam.
It wasn’t a political rally – the normal cause of such crowds. It was people without water.
“They were demanding the government declare a water emergency and resolve their woes on a war footing,” Akbar told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a telephone call. “It was extremely hot, but they remained resolute.”
Over a week, the people had walked 140 km (85 miles) from the Indus delta region, desperate to find an answer to worsening water shortages and land losses to erosion in their home villages.
Zuhaib Ahmed Pirzada, a young environmental activist from Thatta, said an original 50 or so marchers from the area around Kharo Chan – where the delta meets the Arabian Sea - were joined by others as they marched north.
By the time the crowd reached Thatta, there were 1,500 marchers.
Tanzeela Qambrani, a legislator from Badin district, in southern Sindh province, said the region has seen the “slow death” of the delta for many years.
Water expert Simi Kamal, who works at the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund and started a foundation focused on water and food security, said the spread of large-scale irrigation along the Indus River is partially to blame for less water reaching the delta.
But she said “mismanagement” of water, including wasteful flood irrigation and failure to leave enough water in systems to support nature, played a far bigger role.
“Together these have been catastrophic for the environment as well as the local population,” she said, predicting that a shifting climate would only make the problem worse.
LOWER FLOW
The Indus is a water lifeline for over 200 million Pakistanis, about 50 million of them near the river’s end in Sindh, according to the U.S.-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Water and other agencies.
A report by environmental and development group Lead Pakistan said that as demands on the Indus’ water grow, the delta is receiving less than a third of the water it needs.
The flow is also less than what it is due under a 1991 water sharing accord among Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, the report said.
Khalid Hyder Memon, a former irrigation department official in the Sindh provincial government, said he felt Punjab province, upstream, was “stealing” water that should be Sindh’s share.
He said repeated protests and requests over the last two years for a water audit by an independent body had not yet been acted on by the Indus River System Authority, which monitors water distribution and sharing.
“An audit would establish how much water there is in the system and how much is released to each province,” said Memon, who worked on irrigation issues for 37 years.
But Usman Tanveer, deputy commissioner of Thatta, said recent shortages of water in Sindh were in part the result of cool June temperatures in Gilgit-Baltistan’s Skardu district, with less snowmelt coming from the foothills of the Karakoram mountains.
“It takes between 17 to 25 days for the water from Skardu to reach us. The unprecedented and persistent low temperatures delayed snow melt and created havoc for us,” he explained.
Qambrani said the Sindh government needs to show “seriousness” in dealing with growing water threats as climate pressures become the new normal, and as sea level rise and less water and sediment flowing down the Indus erodes delta land.
https://www.ft.com/content/78bb819e-a822-11e9-b6ee-3cdf3174eb89
In the Thar Desert (in Pakistan), communities already face an existential threat: there is nowhere near enough food to go round. Hundreds of thousands of people in Tharparkar, more than half the district’s population, face acute food insecurity, meaning they experience hunger but can go entire days without eating anything. Some 400,000 children under five are acutely malnourished, according to the FAO. More than 500 children died from hunger-related causes last year.
As crops fail, and livestock wither and die, the communal nature of life that has bound people in the Thar Desert together for so long is breaking apart. Villagers can no longer afford to stay on their lands. Ebu says that “most healthy men” have had to migrate to cities or towns where they hope to find work as day-labourers. “When they return,” she says, “they only bring things for their own family.”
Others complain in similar terms. Bheel calls it a “drought in community”. Perhaps it is this — the sense of togetherness evaporating — that causes most unease. “We are constantly worried,” says Ebu. “We’re in a constant state of anxiety. It’s as if we are drowning.”
As with most slow-motion humanitarian crises, the issue is not that there are no solutions — but that they require political will, finance and attention. For dry-land communities like those of the Thar Desert, technologies such as land terracing, drip irrigation and mulching can save water and preserve soil quality, sustaining the livestock and crops on which people depend. Such steps would mean major financing as well as government and international support.
The broader need to meet Pakistan’s energy requirements is also not unattainable; billions of dollars of investment are pledged at climate conferences every year. Some of this money could and should be invested in developing countries like Pakistan, enabling them to shift their fossil fuel-powered growth models towards renewable energy alternatives. Overall, it is a massive project and, in relative terms, there is very little time. It’s hard to feel optimistic.
By 2050, Karachi will have a population of 24 million, and experience ‘deadly heatwaves’ of 49C on an annual basis
One evening, Bheel tells me several tales, from legend and personal experience, recalling djinns (ghosts) and deos (spirits) and the alarming feats of the goddess Aver Devi. “My grandmother’s ghost stories were the worst,” he says, “because they seemed so true.” Reality is beginning to attain something of these stories.
Late one night, with a guide, I visit a village in the desert. The moon and stars are bright enough to reveal our shadows on the sand. In the monochrome light, the landscape resembles a blackish sea. In silence, we come across some abandoned thatched huts; black shapes in the darkness.
We find other huts. Two figures emerge. A man says his eight brothers and their families have left this village. His is the last family left. It is a ghost village. Soon, because of climate change, places like these will be uninhabited, and the desert wind will be the only sound; a long, drawn-out gasp of what once was.
https://arynews.tv/en/met-office-sees-chances-light-rain-drizzle-karachi/
Seasonal low lies over western Balochistan. Moderate moist currents from Arabian Sea are penetrating upper and central parts of the country, weather department said.
Widespread rain-thundershower or windstorm with isolated heavy falls is expected today in Hazara, Peshawar, Kohat, Bannu, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Sargodha, Lahore divisions, Islamabad and Kashmir, while at isolated places in Malakand, Mardan, D.I.Khan, Zhob, Faisalabad, D.G.Khan, Multan, Sahiwal, Bahawalpur, Kalat, Sukkur and Larkana divisions.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday, Balakot received 23 mm rainfall, Cherat 22, Parachinar 05, Malamjabba 01,in Balochistan Barkhan received 17 mm rainfall, Zhob 13, Sibbi 07, Khuzdar 06, in Sindh Jaccobabad received 10 fall, while in Punjab Rahim Yar Khan 07, Rawalpindi 05, Bahawalnager 03, Chakwal 02 and Attock 01 received showers.
. The #MillionTree project seems to be taking shape with Neem, Kandi, Kekar etc. 80% of the 85,000 plants survived, many already 6 ft tall in just a year!
Tweet by Zofeen Ebrahim
For the barren desert of Tharparkar, Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) appears set to embark on an ambitious project of growing cash crops and fruit orchards. The council in this regard entered into an agreement on Wednesday with the Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company’s (SECMC) Thar Foundation in Tharparkar.
Cultivating cash crops and fruit trees, modifying seeds and fodder, reducing salinity and developing multi-directional commercial value chains, that involve livestock, are the objectives. The two partners will also carry out an analysis and undertake pre-emptive remedy against land degradation caused by salinity.
PARC will also station supervisors on-ground who will be available to supervise designated bio-saline projects, which have been initiated by the foundation. The two organisations will also conduct a feasibility study on installing domestic biogas units modelled on the utilisation of animal waste as fuel.
PARC Chairperson Dr Yusuf Zafar said that their supreme objective was to eliminate drought in the region. He said that the council would replicate successful models in Tharparkar which were implemented by the Arid Zone Research Institute in the neighbouring Umerkot district.
Syed Murtaza Azhar Rizvi of Thar Foundation said that the desert was blessed with huge reserves of groundwater, which are estimated at around 80 billion cubic meters. The subsoil water, he added, can be pumped out to make Tharparkar district rich in agriculture.
For the project, the foundation is providing 20 acres of land for the execution of a pilot project. The provision of the required resources including water, seeds and saplings will also be the foundation’s onus.
Located in in the south of Pakistan’s Sindh province, bordering India to the east, the Thar desert is home to many varieties of indigenous trees, herbs, and grasses. It is the latter that provides feed for more than 6 million livestock.
One and a half month ago, heavy winds accompanied by soaring temperature hit the region. People migrated towards the barrage areas more than 200 kilometres away with their cattle. Now all that has changed. In the deep desert dunes have been covered by a greenish coverlet, trees have doubled & tripled their leaves, and the grass is growing with unrestrained enthusiasm.
Mr Khaku, who lives in the village of Dhorio, was weeding out grass from his land. He was thankful for the rain, and said that he had invested PKR 20,000 (USD 128) on his land, and intended to work for the next three months until the harvest in the last week of November. His family – he has seven children – seemed to be as enthusiastic as he was, working from sunrise to sunset. Every family member plays a role in cultivating the desert land.
When drought hits the people and animals face an acute shortage of fodder and cereal crops, as well as water scarcity. These lead to premature births among livestock, and the malnutrition rate increases among children under 5 years of age. Pregnant and lactating women do not get their proper amount of food. People are forced to migrate towards the areas where barrages have been built to find fodder and water for their cattle.
This year may be a year of hope, but nothing is certain, warned Bharumal Amrani, a folklorist and environmental expert. “Nothing can be said finally until the harvest. This time Thar has received enough rains, but there are other climatic challenges that may cause low yield.” Recent attacks by grasshoppers are an issue, and have the potential to cause a huge loss.
Local farmers like Nehal, though, are optimistic. He had been taking on labour work during the lean period to manage household expenses. But, after the rains, his family has returned to the land.
“I invested PKR 30,000 (USD 192) last year, but due to rainfall, we got only fodder for two months and couldn’t manage to return the loan payment. This year we welcomed a good shower, and hope this would give us a way to fulfil household needs until the next rains,” he said.
Despite the amount of rain, there is an issue about their timing. “Due to climate change there has been a in the monsoon, the desert received the first spell of rain almost a month late, and that may badly affect the harvest,” said Aakash Hamirani, a youth activist. Nevertheless the people are happy, blessing their fortune this year, and hoping it marks a change from the last few years of lean rainfall.
The sector is rapidly moving the country towards self-reliance by introducing Pakistan’s national brand under the name of ‘PakOlive’ by 2021. The Pakistan Olive Oil Council will be established under the Ministry Of National Food Security and Research to suggest policy measures for the promotion of olive oil in the country. The government will also issue certifications for the marketing and branding of olive oil for the private sector.
“Certification is important as our local olive products can then become competitive in the international market,” said Dr Muhammad Tariq, national project director for the promotion of olive cultivation on a commercial scale in Pakistan. Furthermore, utilising marginal lands will help grow a cottage industry for olive products, he explained.
The project targets plantations of over 50,000 acres in the country by 2022. The available potential area for olive cultivation is about 10 million acres in Punjab, particularly the Pothwar region, Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and erstwhile Fata, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan.
Given its potential for growing olive plantations, Pothwar has been termed as an ‘olive valley’ where over 1.2 million olive plants are being grown on an area of 11,125 acres, engaging about 1,300 farmers. More than half the plants will start bearing fruit in 2019-20’s cropping period, producing 5,118 tonnes of olive oil. By 2024, the value of oil olive production will increase to Rs1.727 billion.
In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, over a million olive plants are being grown on an area of 9,391 acres engaging 768 farmers. The production of olive oil is estimated to reach the value of Rs1.458bn in 2024.
In Balochistan, over half a million plants are being grown over an area of over 9,391 acres and it is expected that by 2024, the value of oil will be Rs1.160bn.
In Islamabad Capital Territory and AJK, over 50,000 plants are being grown on an area of 455 acres of land engaging 228 farmers. The value of oil by 2024 is expected to be Rs71 million.
Thus, by 2024, the country will have about 3m fruit-bearing olive plants producing roughly 1,415 tonnes of olive oil with an estimated value of Rs4.416bn. The climate change ministry also plans to plant 1m olive plants.
Edible oil is an every-day use food item. Pakistan has been chronically deficient in its production. More than 80 per cent of the domestic requirements are met through imports. Since the early-1970s, its imports have increased at the rate of 12.5pc annually and the trend is worsening.
In 2017 alone, more than $3.2bn was spent on the import of oil, oil meal and oilseeds to meet domestic needs. Pakistan imported 3,000 tonnes of olive oil worth Rs1.241bn during 2017-18.
Dr Tariq explained that utilising marginal lands will help the cottage industry of olive products grow. Thus, livelihoods will be improved through employment generation opportunities created by olive value-chains developed in less-favoured regions of the country.
Olive forests resist drought and help absorb greenhouse gases when the capability of other trees decrease, making them more efficient in taking in carbon dioxide.
They also provide permanent crop cover that not only saves land from erosion and further degradation but also minimises silt load to downstream water reservoirs. Olive orchards require less water, fertilisers, pesticides and fuel energy as compared to other major annual oilseed crops.
If there is a bright spot to the COVID-19 epidemic, it's the positive environmental impact that social distancing has had on the planet. There has been a steep drop in worldwide pollution and wildlife is returning to places that were once dominated by human activity.
The pandemic has also inspired many world leaders to champion a green recovery.
Pakistan has found a great way to help its laborers who've lost their jobs due to the health crisis by hiring them to plant saplings as part of the country's 10 Billion Trees program. The five-year project was launched by Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan to counter the droughts, flooding, and rise in temperatures in the country caused by climate change.
Pakistan ranks fifth on a list of countries most affected by planetary heating over the past two decades by the Global Climate Risk Index 2020.
The country has been on lockdown since March 23, but the prime minster granted an exception for the 63,000 laborers it has hired for the program. The workers will be paid between 500 to 8000 rupees a day — about half of what a laborer would usually make —but it's enough to get by.
The work is a lifeline for the unemployed laborers but it will only put a small dent in Pakistan's unemployment rate. A recent assessment by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics found that up to 19 million people could be laid off due to COVID-19.
Even though the work takes place in isolated areas, laborers still have to abide by social distancing rules. They must remain six feet apart from one another and wear masks.
Much of the planting is being done on 15,000 acres near the state capital of Islamabad as well as other pieces of state-owned forest land throughout the country.
"This tragic crisis provided an opportunity and we grabbed it," Malik Amin Aslam, climate change advisor to the prime minister, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
The United States should look into similar programs to help its unemployed citizens as well as the planet. During the Great Depression, president President Franklin Roosevelt mobilized the U.S. Forest Service, the Works Progress Administration, and the Civilian Conservation Corps to create a shelterbelt of trees that ran in a 100-mile-wide zone from North Dakota to the Texas panhandle.
The goal was to provide a natural barrier against the dust storms that ravaged the middle of the country during the Dust Bowl
Over seven years, 30,233 shelter belts were planted, stretching over 18,600 square miles, and containing over 220 million trees. It also provided much needed employment for thousands of workers who's livelihoods had been destroyed by the Dust Bowl and stock market crash.
In every great tragedy holds the seed of opportunity. The U.S. should follow Pakistan's lead and use that seed to plant a better future.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1544852
The Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) has secured international credit rating of ‘B-’ with a stable outlook from international rating agencies, Fitch and Standard & Poor’s (S&P) -- a pre-requisite for green eurobond issuance that is a core point of the policy for foreign currency component of both Diamer Basha and Mohmand dam projects.
This was revealed in a letter written by the Wapda chairman to the federal water resources secretary on Friday.
Wapda had initiated the process to raise a portion of the requisite foreign currency financing from international market through issuance of green eurobond with a debut benchmark size of $500 million. The authority engaged three major credit rating agencies -- Fitch, S&P and Moody’s. JP Morgan and HBL provided financial advisory services for the process on pro-bono basis and meetings with these agencies were conducted on Feb 19 and 20 at Wapda House in Lahore.
“A great feat that Wapda has been equalised with the federal government on Long-Term Foreign Currency Issuer Default Rating of ‘B-’ with Stable Outlook by both Fitch and S&P Ratings. Moody’s are yet to communicate the outcome and we expect it to be in line with the other two agencies,” the letter stated.
During the meetings, the rating agencies were apprised of Wapda’s autonomous status, business model, financial profile and its importance in realising the government’s goal of minimising dependence on imported fuel for energy generation. This was followed by a rigorous exercise from credit quality perspective, including evaluation of financial position, financial forecasts, impact of socio-political factors, and the authority’s corporate governance and regulatory framework in order to gauge its strengths and quantify potential risks.
“The outcome of this credit rating exercise would greatly help to raise foreign financing at the best possible rates when Wapda approaches the international capital market for its Green Eurobond issuance. It will also bolster our credibility with a direct bearing on the pricing when we raise foreign financing from other avenues like Syndicate loans and Export Credit Agencies,” the letter added.
Wapda chief retired Lt General Muzammil Hussain told Dawn that the authority required $1.2 billion during the first two years of executing the Diamer Basha and Mohmand dam projects. “And now after getting this international rating… we will be able to secure foreign financing for the aforementioned mega projects. For this, we will be launching green eurobond, each of $500 million, in the international market soon. This way, the international donors will agree on fulfilment of the foreign currency component of these two projects,” he explained.
Pakistan had also recently secured the ‘B-’ rating with a stable outlook.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228456411_Biosaline_agriculture_in_Pakistan
Fresh water resources are under severe pressure along with the agricultural irrigation system which suffers from a steady increase in salinity. In order to maintain good supply of water for human consumption and for agriculture, efforts should be made to find alternate source of water and utilization of saline land for economic benefits. A number of halophytes could be used as cash crop (forage, fodder, fuel, medicine, chemicals, ornamentals etc). Pakistan spans a distance of 1,600 kilometers from the Arabian Sea to plains and prairies, the playas of temperate northern mountains across deserts, covering an area of 800,000 square kilometers. The varied climatic conditions have resulted in a rich diversity of flora including halophytes. Compared to the total 2500 species reported worldwide, Pakistan alone has about 410 halophytes and 178 of them have not been reported before. The efforts made to combat salinity and utilization of halophytes as cash-crop in Pakistan would be discussed.
https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk/2020/10/28/cm-murad-inaugurates-kalidas-dam-in-nagarparkar/
Addressing the inauguration ceremony, Murad Ali Shah said, “The dam has a storage capacity up to 1,012.3 acre feet while its height is 13 feet. It was constructed at the catchment area of Karoonjhar Mountains that are feasible for small dams. The dam has been constructed at a cost of Rs333 million.”
Shah said that the provincial government has completed the construction of 23 small dams, while the plan for building more 26 dams has also been finalised.
“After the construction these dams, approximately 80,000 acres of land will be made fertile.”
The chief minister said that the people of Nagarparkar and its suburban villages will get clean drinking water after the construction of Kalidas Dam.
“The mountainous region of Karoonjhar is 400 square kilometres wide and it receives an average of 13-inch rain during the monsoon season which provides a total of 111,000 acre feet of water. Kalidas Dam will reduce the water scarcity in the Nagarparkar area,” he added.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1653307
Olive development programme is expected to receive grants from the council
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The International Olive Council (IOC) has decided to admit Pakistan as its full member, saying the country contains huge potential of producing olive oil not only for domestic consumption but also for export.
Pakistan is currently an associate member of the IOC which is an intergovernmental organisation of states that produce olives or products derived from olives such as oil.
IOC’s Executive Director Abdellatif Ghedira is currently on a visit to Pakistan on a request of the Pakistan Oil Seeds Development Board.
Speaking to media here on Thursday after visiting olive farms and reviewing the potential of olive oil production in Pakistan with the government and research scientists, Mr Ghedira said Pakistan was now well placed to join the council as its full member.
The full membership of Pakistan will lead to strengthen international cooperation and bring the Pakistani olive oil sector closer to the council and promote the application of IOC standards in the world markets.
Pakistan’s olive development programme is expected to receive grants from the council which finances national programmes of member countries on an annual basis.
Mr Ghedira ended his visit to Pakistan on a satisfying note that the government has embarked on a massive project to promote the olive oil sector since it has suitable climate to plant varieties of olives.
He said the council would support Pakistan to secure certification as the country had standard processing plants and research laboratories.
Currently, Pakistan has 3.6 million olive plants over an area of 31,000 acres of land, and plans are underway to grow 10m more plants over 75,000 acres of land.
Balochistan has been considered as highly promising province for the cultivation of olive plants.
The IOC brings together olive oil and table olive producing and consuming stakeholders. It is the world’s only international intergovernmental organisation in the field of olive oil and table olives. The council currently has 17 state members in addition to the European Union. These states account for over 98 per cent of the world’s oil production.
https://www.app.com.pk/national/sania-inaugurates-first-ever-ginger-harvest-in-pakistan/
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection, Senator Dr. Sania Nishtar on Sunday inaugurated the first ever ginger cultivation during the Ginger Harvest Workshop held in Balkasar area of Chakwal. The harvest celebration was organized by Agrionics Farms.
This was the first ginger harvest piloted in Pakistan. The crop was grown in eleven months. Being an essential ingredient of Pakistani cuisine, ginger is high in demand, but unfortunately it is not grown here, and all the crop is imported to meet the domestic needs.
At the event, participants learnt from experts about the sustainable production and management of ginger and how to properly harvest this crop.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Sania said, “Ginger can emerge as a major crop and can be a game-changer for the farming community. Agriculture is profoundly linked to poverty alleviation in Pakistan. Government, private sector, research institutions, innovators and farmers can work together to build synergies and develop agri-value chains. This will lead to greater impact for poverty alleviation, livelihoods creation, economic growth and foreign trade boosting.”
Dr. Ghulam Muhammad Ali, Chairman Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), Muhammad Najeebullah, Director Vegetable Research Institute, Faisalabad and other experts were also present on the occasion.
Participants were provided with information on how to successfully grow and harvest ginger in the country.
Experts presented research-based information about the agricultural benefits of growing ginger locally.
After knowledge-sharing, all participants went to the field for the formal inauguration and demonstrations.
Chairman PARC briefed Dr. Sania on the success of the ginger cultivation project and its potential to boost Pakistan’s farming sector. “This variety of ginger has been successfully grown and field tested and can yield up to approximately 8 to 10 tonnes per acre in this area” he said.
Other experts shared that Pakistan is an agri economy field to progress as it shall be but now it has started its journey towards self-sustainability.
With help of drip irrigation, sprinklers and shading fabric, it is the first ginger farming project that turned out commercially successful.
Using olive oil instead of margarine, butter or other saturated fats may protect you from dying from cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory disease, dementia, and other conditions, according to a study released Monday.
"It's a combination of both decreasing the amount of saturated fat at the same time you're increasing the monounsaturated fats found in olive oil," said Dr. Howard LeWine, the chief medical editor of Harvard Health Publishing, part of Harvard Medical School.
"The takeaway is to use olive oil every time you can as a substitute for saturated fats when you're cooking or in your salad dressings," said LeWine, who was not involved in the study.
The study analyzed the diets of people enrolled in two large government-funded studies: the Nurses' Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. Researchers then compared the diet findings to disease and death records for those people over time.
Men and women who replaced just over 2 teaspoons (10 grams) of margarine, butter, mayonnaise or dairy fat with the same amount of olive oil had up to a 34% lower overall risk of dying than people who ate little to no olive oil, according to study author Marta Guasch-Ferre, a senior research scientist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
"This is the first long-term study, including more than 90,000 participants followed for up to 30 years, conducted in the American population on olive oil and mortality. Previous studies were conducted in Mediterranean and European populations where the consumption of olive oil tends to be higher," Guasch-Ferre said via email.
"Our results provide further support for recommendations to replace saturated fat and animal fat with unsaturated plant oils, such as olive oil, for the prevention of premature death," she added.
People who reported eating the highest levels of olive oil had a 19% lower risk of dying from heart conditions, a 17% lower risk of dying from cancer, a 29% lower risk of dying from neurodegenerative disease, and an 18% lower risk of dying from respiratory disease mortality compared with those who never or rarely consumed olive oil in place of saturated fats, said Susanna Larsson, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, in an accompanying editorial.
Both the study and editorial were published Monday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
The connection between olive oil and fewer deaths from brain disease was "novel," Larsson wrote. "Considering the lack of preventive strategies for Alzheimer's disease and the high morbidity and mortality related to this disease, this finding, if confirmed, is of great public health importance."
https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/03/16/2404413/0/en/Pakistan-Honey-Markets-2016-2022-2023-2027.html
Changing consumer preference towards consumption of healthier sugar substitutes and natural sweeteners and the health benefits of honey, including the presence of anti-cancer agents, are the primary factors driving the growth of the Pakistan Honey Market.
Also, the increased demand from the cosmetics and personal care industry and ongoing adoption of advanced beekeeping techniques by the market players are the other factors that are expected to create lucrative growth opportunities for the Pakistan Honey Market in the forecast period.
Consumers are becoming health-conscious and aware of the health-damaging properties of sugar and artificial sweeteners, which have created the demand for natural sweeteners. Honey can be used as an excellent substitute instead of white sugar, and it provides several health benefits to the consumer.
Honey also has anti-fungal, antibacterial, and anti-viral properties and, therefore, is considered an effective medicine to treat cough, cold, and throat infections. Also, favorable government initiatives such as the "Billion Tree Honey Initiative" and plantation of trees to boost the local bee population and honey production are expected to fuel the growth of the Pakistan Honey Market in the forecast period.
The Pakistan Honey Market can be segmented into product, type, pack size, packaging, distribution channel, application, regional distribution, and company. Based on the product, the market is bifurcated into natural/organic honey v/s processed honey.
Natural/organic honey is leading the market with a market share of 82.26%, and is expected to maintain its dominance throughout the forecast period. Natural/organic honey is preferred over its counterpart as it has enhanced antioxidant properties and can be stored for a longer duration.
Major market players operating in the Pakistan Honey Market
Natural Swat Bee Honey
Simply the Great Food
Forest Honey
Shifaheillahi Natural Honey
Nature's Store
My Honey
Organic Honey
Sunbulah Group (Al-Shifa Honey)
Buzzin Beez
Pakeeza Honey Center
Report Scope:
Years considered for this report:
Historical Years: 2017-2020
Base Year: 2021
Estimated Year: 2022
Forecast Period: 2023-2027
Pakistan Honey Market, By Product:
Natural/Organic Honey
Processed Honey
Pakistan Honey Market, By Type:
Acacia
Sidr
Orange Blossom
Ajwain
Clover
Others
Pakistan Honey Market, By Pack Size:
500gm
1000gm and Above
200-250gm
Pakistan Honey Market, By Packaging:
Jar
Bottles
Pouch
Others
Pakistan Honey Market, By Distribution Channel:
Supermarket/Hypermarket
Convenience Stores
Online
Others
Pakistan Honey Market, By Application:
Food & Beverage
Personal Care and Cosmetics
Pharmaceuticals
Others
Pakistan Honey Market, By Region:
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Punjab
Sindh
Others
For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/1ndlma
@bubblesays
Pakistan has the world's fourth-highest rate of water use. Its water intensity rate — the amount of water, in cubic meters, used per unit of GDP — is the world's highest. This suggests that no country's economy is more water-intensive than Pakistan's. 1/n
https://twitter.com/bubblesays/status/1522195266933305345?s=20&t=YJvQFn8WZuSTKbNkcPfGcA
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Alishba Farrukh ⚯͛
@bubblesays
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6h
Replying to
@bubblesays
According to the IMF, Pakistan's per capita annual water availability is 1,017 cubic meters — perilously close to the scarcity threshold of 1,000 cubic meters. Back in 2009, Pakistan's water availability was about 1,500 cubic meters.2/n
https://twitter.com/bubblesays/status/1522195653241319425?s=20&t=YJvQFn8WZuSTKbNkcPfGcA
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Alishba Farrukh ⚯͛
@bubblesays
Pakistan is approaching the scarcity threshold for water. What is even more disturbing is that groundwater supplies are being rapidly depleted. And worst of all is that the authorities have given no indication that they plan to do anything about any of this. 3/n
https://twitter.com/bubblesays/status/1522198066169798659?s=20&t=YJvQFn8WZuSTKbNkcPfGcA
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Alishba Farrukh ⚯͛
@bubblesays
Pakistan may face a water shortage of 22-30% for six months starting from April 1 to September 30 during the Kharif season 2022.
https://twitter.com/bubblesays/status/1522198262043877378?s=20&t=YJvQFn8WZuSTKbNkcPfGcA
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Alishba Farrukh ⚯͛
@bubblesays
In 2025 Pakistan may face an acute water crisis. To avoid this outcome Islamabad must work dedicatedly on National Water Security, and plantation dives to protect and conserve natural climate. The problem is not due to water availability but the mismanagement of water
https://www.oliveoiltimes.com/business/pakistan-to-become-olive-council-member/105121
Pakistani government representatives met with officials from the International Olive Council (IOC) in Madrid recently to announce that the South Asian country will become its 19th member.
The IOC’s goal is to plant tens of millions of trees and make Pakistan a relevant olive oil producer in the region. The country is already involved in a multi-year nationwide effort to expand local olive production.
According to Juan Vilar Strategic Consultants, Pakistan produces about 1,500 tons of olive oil per annum and 830 tons of table olives, all of which are destined for domestic consumption.
“Pakistan feels the need to connect with the council as they are developing their olive sector and their internal olive oil consumption grows,” Abdellatif Ghedira, the IOC’s executive director, told Olive Oil Times.
“In Pakistan, olive oil culture is making inroads, and so are the opportunities related to that,” he added. “The council is a decisive player in contributing to the sustainable and responsible development of olive growing, and it serves as a world forum for discussing policymaking issues and tackling present and future challenges.”
The nationwide Ten Billion Tree Tsunami project launched by the government to tackle some of the effects of climate change such as soil erosion and desertification complements the olive expansion projects meant to bring new opportunities to farmers.
The reforestation project, considered by the United Nations one of the most ambitious on a global scale, aims at restoring and enhancing more than one million hectares of forest by the end of 2023.
Today Pakistan’s forest covers only five percent of the country, compared with a 23 percent global average. Planting fruit tree crops, such as olives, is an environmentally and economically-friendly way to achieve this goal.
The second phase of the national olive project, which started 12 years ago, will add 10 million new olive trees in the next three years.
Given the unique characteristics of the olive tree, often thriving in areas way more challenging for other crops, government officials believe that olive farming is an efficient answer both to reforestation needs and economic development.
“A special focus in this phase will be given to underprivileged areas of the country, such as Southern Balochistan, Southern Punjab, the tribal areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and some parts of Sindh province,” Muhammad Tariq, national project director at the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, told Olive Oil Times.
Thanks to cooperation projects with some of the IOC’s European members, such as Spain and Italy, and with foreign support from China, local growers are experimenting with many different olive varieties, such as Pendolino, Frantoio, Picual and Arbequina.
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The IOC currently has 18 state members including the European Union. These states account for over 98 per cent of the world's olive production. The following states of the IOC are below (the year of the state's first ratification of one of the Agreements is included; an asterisk indicates that the state was a founding member of the IOOC):
Albania (2009)
Algeria (1963)
Argentina (2009)
Egypt (1964)
European Union*[1]
Georgia (2019)
Iran (2004)
Israel* (1958)
Jordan (2002)
Lebanon (1973)
Libya* (1956)
Montenegro (2007)
Morocco (1958)
Palestine (2017)
Tunisia* (1956)
Turkey (2010)
Uruguay (2013)
Uzbekistan (2021)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Olive_Council
@sherryrehman
Good news for Pakistan! Our Recharge Pakistan project, which will be implemented over the next 7 years, has been approved today for funding of 77.8 M USD. These include GCF resources of 66 M USD and co-financing of around USD 11.8 M. This adaptation project aims to initiate ecosystem-based adaptation (EBA) interventions that will store flood water in wetlands, floodplains and depressions (green infrastructure) at several priority sites, build community resilience at these sites, and enable the Government of Pakistan, including all lead provinces and stakeholders to implement & replicate such nature-based solutions for climate resilience.
https://twitter.com/sherryrehman/status/1678625444176822275?s=20
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Funding of $77.8 million has been approved for Recharge Pakistan, a project that aims to build the country’s climate resilience and water security, Federal Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman announced on Tuesday.
https://www.brecorder.com/news/40252003/778mn-funding-secured-for-recharge-pakistan-project-sherry-rehman
“Good news for Pakistan! Our Recharge Pakistan project, which will be implemented over the next seven years, has been approved today for funding of $77.8mn,” said Rehman in a post on Twitter.
The minister highlighted that the funding includes $66 million from Green Climate Fund (GCF) resources and co-financing of around $11.8 million.
GCF was established in 2010 by 194 countries party to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. It is designed as an operating entity of the Convention’s financial mechanism and is headquartered in South Korea.
“This adaptation project aims to initiate ecosystem-based adaptation interventions that will store flood water in wetlands, floodplains and depressions (green infrastructure) at several priority sites,” said Rehman.
Recharge Pakistan is a joint collaboration by GCF, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Government of Pakistan. As per information available on the WWF website, the project aims to build Pakistan’s climate resilience and water security through cost-effective ecosystem-based adaptation.
“The project will increase water storage and recharge through wetlands, floodplains, and hill-torrents management; promote climate-adapted community-based natural resource management and livelihoods; and forge a paradigm shift to scale up this approach,” read the website.
Last week, Rehman during a high-level meeting with a delegation led by Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, President-designate of COP28 and UAE’s Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, said a “critical gap” in resources for adaptation and mitigation has been identified by multilateral agencies -amounting to $348 billion or 10.7% of cumulative GDP by 2030.
Despite this, Pakistan is committed to a green energy transition, whereby it will transfer 60% of its energy needs to renewables by 2030 and reduce its projected emissions by 50% until 2030, Rehman said.
Pakistan is actively involved in transitioning the country towards the renewable energy sector and is seeking partnerships in the alternative and renewable energy sector, the minister added.
https://geographical.co.uk/science-environment/sifting-sands-why-the-thar-desert-on-the-borders-of-india-and-pakistan-is-getting-greener
Their research, published in the journal Earth’s Future, isn’t the first to suggest that climate change might be turning the Indian subcontinent’s northwest green. In 2017, scientists at the Center for Global Change Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology revealed that, since 2002, there has been a ‘revival’ of the Indian summer monsoon – a reversal of a 50-year dry period that brought relatively little rain to northern and central India. More rain, their study showed, was yet to come.
According to climatologist Bhupendra Goswami, by the end of the century we can expect to see a 150–200 per cent increase in mean rainfall in northwestern India. The findings are ‘counterintuitive’, he says; normally, there is an expectation that climate change will make wet areas wetter and dry areas drier. However, Goswami and his colleagues found that as rising greenhouse gas emissions continue to heat the planet, the Indian Ocean will warm unevenly, heating up faster in the west. It’s this imbalance, they explain, that is causing the monsoon to shift.
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2022EF003459
P. V. Rajesh, B. N. Goswami
First published: 31 July 2023
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2022EF003459
Abstract
In contrast to the “wet gets wetter and dry gets drier” paradigm, here, using observations and climate model simulations, we show that the mean rainfall over the semi-arid northwest parts of India and Pakistan has increased by 10%–50% during 1901–2015 and is expected to increase by 50%–200% under moderate greenhouse gas (GHG) scenarios. The GHG forcing primarily drives the westward expansion of the Indian summer monsoon rainfall (ISMR) and is facilitated by a westward expansion of the Indian Ocean (IO) warm pool. Mechanistically, the westward expansion of ISMR is a consequence of the episodic genesis over IO and the northward propagation of an expanded Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone on a sub-seasonal time scale. While an adaptation strategy to increased hydrological disasters is a must, harnessing the augmented rainfall would lead to a substantial boost in food productivity, bringing transformative changes in the socio-economic condition of people in the region.
Key Points
Global warming could potentially cause a westward expansion of the Indian monsoon
Rainfall in northwest India and Pakistan has increased and will continue to rise due to greenhouse gases
Increased monsoon rainfall can improve food productivity and socio-economic conditions in the region
Plain Language Summary
An apparent eastward shift of the Indian monsoon has led to the arid conditions in the west and north-west regions of India where monsoon was once active, and the Indus Valley civilizations thrived (5,300–3,300-year BP). A reversal of the process and a westward expansion of the present-day Indian monsoon would transform the west and north-west India to a humid “monsoonal” climate and provide food security to the expanding population of the country. The present study shows that the Indian monsoon is indeed expanding to the west with 10% decrease of mean rainfall in the northeast and 25% increase in the west and north-west during the historical period with a potential of 50%–100% increase in the north-west under SSP2–4.5. Harvesting the increased rainfall has the potential for significant increase in food productivity bringing in transformative changes in the socio-economic condition of people of the region.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/27/why-is-pakistans-new-canal-project-sparking-water-shortage-fears
Islamabad, Pakistan – The Pakistan government has launched an ambitious agricultural project with the aim of boosting food security in the South Asian nation of 240 million people.
A network of six canals will be built across the country to irrigate millions of acres of barren lands as part of the $3.3bn (945 billion rupees) project called Green Pakistan Initiative (GPI), which was launched by the country’s powerful army chief General Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in 2023.
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But critics say the megaproject, which aims to build canals across Pakistan’s four provinces, would cause water shortages in the southern parts of the country. They say the project was planned without consent from stakeholders.
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What is the Green Pakistan Initiative?
Agriculture is the backbone of Pakistan’s economy, contributing nearly 25 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) and providing 37 percent of its employment.
The GPI was launched in July 2023 to address outdated farming practices to improve productivity.
It aims to modernise the agricultural sector by introducing new technologies and equipment, including drones, land management systems, and tractors, as well as providing seeds and fertilisers to increase yields.
The project also aims to provide technical inputs to farmers, including soil testing among other services, and attract both domestic and foreign investment to create what Munir described as “modern farms” at the project’s inauguration in Islamabad in 2023.
Pakistan imported $9bn worth of food items in 2023, even as it has faced a balance of payment crisis and has been forced to borrow funds from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The Green Corporate Initiative (GCI), an army-owned private company, has been tasked with converting wastelands into cultivable farmland.
“Revitalising agriculture is essential for the economy, particularly as Pakistan faces climate-related threats,” retired army general Shahid Nazir, who heads the GPI, told Al Jazeera.
Nazir said 4.8 million acres (1.94 million hectares) of “barren wasteland” has been identified across the country.
Making that land cultivable would also provide employment opportunities to more than 60,000 people, he added.
The military wields immense influence in the country, having directly ruled Pakistan for more than three decades, and runs several commercial entities in the real estate, agriculture, construction and other sectors.
According to the GPI, the project will focus on growing “target crops”, including cotton, wheat, canola, sunflower, rice, and lentils, among others.
Under the plan, the company will lease land for 30 years through different business models, in which a minimum of 1,000 acres (405 hectares) will be allocated to investors, who could be both foreign as well as domestic large-scale investors.
However, Nazir added that the ultimate objective is to use the large-scale investment as a model for small farmers, who could then collaborate with other small farmers to upgrade their farming techniques, bringing them up to speed with contemporary practices.
What is the Cholistan Canal and why is it important?
The approvals for the “six strategic canals” were given by President Asif Ali Zardari in July 2024, who is from Sindh and a co-chairperson of the PPP, after his meeting with GPI officials.
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Of the canals, the Cholistan is the largest and most critical project.
Of the canals, the Cholistan is the largest and most critical project.
The 176km (109-mile) long canal, according to official documents, has three branches, with a total capacity of 4,120 cusecs (116,665 litres/second), and is expected to be completed by mid-2030, at an estimated cost of $783m.