{"id":20071840,"date":"2021-05-05T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-05T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thethirdpole.net\/?p=71840"},"modified":"2021-05-12T09:57:56","modified_gmt":"2021-05-12T04:27:56","slug":"pakistan-bans-water-guzzling-rice-one-farmer-has-alternative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/food\/pakistan-bans-water-guzzling-rice-one-farmer-has-alternative\/","title":{"rendered":"As Pakistan bans water-guzzling rice, one farmer has an alternative"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The season for sowing paddy is about to kick off in Sindh. But the province in southeast Pakistan has banned<\/a> rice cultivation in 10 districts on the left bank of the Indus river.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This ban is announced every year at the end of April or early May to limit the waterlogging, salinity and drought-like conditions caused by successive rice farming. By some accounts, rice cultivation has been banned in these areas for over 90 years. Similarly, in India the government bans paddy cultivation in \u2018dark zones\u2019 to help water aquifers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are \u2018dark zones\u2019?<\/p>

Areas of acute overexploitation of groundwater, due to the use of water exceeding its recharge<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

But these orders fall on deaf ears, as rice cultivation continues in large swathes of farmland in both countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rasheed Channa, spokesperson for Sindh\u2019s chief minister, said this time will be different. The government is \u201cdead serious\u201d about penalising those who violate the ban, Channa said. District administrations have already been told to be on the lookout for nurseries and \u201craze the seedlings before they can be transplanted\u201d to flooded fields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The news sparked considerable anger<\/a> within the farming community, with farmers saying the government\u2019s timing and thought process were poor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe growers were informed just a month before sowing that paddy will not be allowed. They had not prepared land or bought seeds to grow an alternative crop,\u201d said Mahmood Nawaz Shah, senior vice-president of the Sindh Abadgar Board, an organisation formed to protect the rights of farmers in the province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Policymakers must realise that switching crops on more than 40,000 hectares after the season for other crops has passed is \u201calmost impossible\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven if 20,000 acres [8,000 hectares] are suddenly cultivated for other crops, where will we get buyers from? The prices of vegetables, pulses and fruits will fall,\u201d he pointed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rice and water<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While fears for livelihoods are valid, the ban underscores the government\u2019s growing concerns about water scarcity. The chief minister, who is a progressive farmer himself, said<\/a> one kilogramme of rice requires up to 3,000 litres of water. Officials said water standing in rice farms for long periods of time has caused waterlogging, and that the high-delta crop also uses up other crops\u2019 share of water for irrigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a high-delta crop?<\/p>

Crops that require large quantities of water to grow. Low-delta crops need comparatively less water.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As Pakistan grapples with increased glacial melt and erratic rainfall, managing the canal-fed, water-intensive rice crop is yet another problem. The issue is exacerbated by high demand and the fact that rice generates 8% of Pakistan\u2019s income from exports<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n