Written by Muhammad Tufail Mirza.
ONE hopes agriculture will get top priority in our new financial budget which is expected to be out in a few weeks' time.
Thirty-four million acres of land in our country is irrigated by canal and out of this cultivated land 28 million acres is menaced with salinity. According to our experts, the country is losing 15 acres of land under water and salinity every hour. Sind is the main sufferer, and according to experts the province may turn into a lake before long. A special report in 1973 on the future prospects of our agricultural lands had disclosed that during the next twenty years our land would be so much exhausted that it would stop giving produce. It is frightening prospect. But we have taken no steps for the proper cultivation of barani areas. The Barani Land Commission setup by the previous Government prepared a working paper containing certain valuable recommendations. An important observation made by the commission, based on the work of experimental farms in the districts of Attock and Rawalpindi, showed that the barani lands can give three times more produce.
Twenty Eight million acres out of 34 million acres cultivated under canal system is, to varying degree, going waste under water and salinity. It means only six million acres of land is free from disease. Woul it not be proper, therefore, to concentrate on planing for the betterment of barani lands which seem to be our future hope.
Barani lands need water which can be provided by installing more and more tube-wells and constructing small dams. The Punjab Government recently appointed a high-powered Barani Implementation Committee, under a military officer. If the Agriculture Department allowed this committee a free hand, and proper funds are allocated for the coming financial year, the Committee may produce a useful report.
By Muhammad Tufail Mirza.
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