ISLAMABAD, Oct 15 (APP): Water experts have urged Punjab farmers to gradually shift from flood irrigation to more efficient methods, including drip and sprinkler systems, to conserve dwindling water resources and cope with erratic rainfall and rising temperatures driven by climate change, while improving existing irrigation practices to keep costs manageable.
Flood irrigation, widely used across Pakistan, has an overall efficiency rate of less than 45 per cent, highlighting the need for better water management and gradual adoption of modern techniques.
Dr. Ghulam Zakir Hassan Sial, Director of the Irrigation Research Institute (IRI), Punjab, said farmers should not abandon flood irrigation overnight but adopt more efficient practices in phases according to their financial capacity and crop requirements.
Talking to Wealth Pakistan, he said flood irrigation had relatively low initial costs but, when poorly managed, could result in excessive water application, runoff, waterlogging and soil salinity.
He recommended improving existing irrigation practices through laser land levelling, proper irrigation scheduling and furrow irrigation before investing in more expensive systems.
Dr. Sial said drip and sprinkler irrigation should be introduced where their economic and technical benefits justified the investment.
Financial assistance, technical training and appropriate maintenance facilities would help farmers adopt these systems progressively, he added.
He stressed that farmers should assess the total cost of irrigation methods over their useful life rather than focusing solely on installation expenses.
“For low-margin crops such as wheat, improving existing flood irrigation may be the most practical starting point, while drip irrigation may be economically attractive for suitable orchards and high-value crops,” he explained.
He warned that excessive reliance on tubewells for flood irrigation could accelerate groundwater depletion when extraction exceeded natural or artificial replenishment.
Water experts have also called for greater emphasis on water stewardship, watercourse lining, rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge and responsible water reuse to address growing water scarcity.
Sohail Ali Naqvi, Director of Water Resources at WWF-Pakistan, said irrigation efficiency needed to be complemented by climate-smart cropping practices to achieve sustainable water conservation.
Talking to Wealth Pakistan, he said rotating cereals with legumes, including mung bean, chickpea and lentil, could improve soil health while reducing water requirements.
He said farmers in water-scarce regions could also reduce the area under water-intensive crops, such as rice and sugarcane, and adopt heat- and drought-tolerant varieties to minimise climate-related losses.
Timely sowing was equally important in protecting crops from rising temperatures, he said, adding that wheat sowing by mid-November could help crops avoid terminal heat, particularly during El Niño years.
Over the next five to 10 years, Pakistan should expand nature-based solutions, climate-informed irrigation practices, laser land levelling and watercourse lining, Naqvi said.
He added that cities and industries should also increase water reuse, promote rainwater harvesting, reduce water leakage and improve groundwater management.
“These are practical interventions that can be expanded through systems we already have,” he said, stressing that groundwater should be treated as a strategic national resource rather than an unlimited reserve.
Aamir Mushtaq, Deputy Director of the Water Management Department, Punjab, said farmer training in smart irrigation techniques was essential to reducing water losses.
He said irrigation should be scheduled according to crop water requirements and soil moisture levels to prevent unnecessary water use.
Mushtaq also highlighted Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) for paddy rice, saying the method could reduce irrigation requirements when properly managed.
He recommended Direct-Seeded Rice (DSR) as an alternative to conventional transplanted rice, noting that it could significantly reduce water consumption.
The experts stressed that combining improved irrigation methods, climate-resilient crops and better groundwater management would be crucial to conserving water and sustaining agricultural production in Pakistan.