Business | Opinion
Nation should focus on conservation of resources
The latest spell of monsoon rain in parts of Pakistan this week was widely welcomed by the country's farming community as many farmers were relieved to see their recently planted rice crop receive a timely sprinkle.
- By Farhan Bokhari, Special to Gulf News
- Published: 23:23 August 5, 2008
The latest spell of monsoon rain in parts of Pakistan this week was widely welcomed by the country's farming community as many farmers were relieved to see their recently planted rice crop receive a timely sprinkle.
But the case of relying on rain to meet irrigation water needs once again demonstrates a fundamental gap between Pakistan's farm-related needs and a broader national reality which is the case of managing key natural resources.
This is all the more critical for a country where agriculture accounts for about a quarter of gross domestic product (GDP) while almost two-thirds of the population relies directly or indirectly on farm incomes.
In the past year, the lift to the economies of the world's agricultural commodity producers in the wake of a spectacular rise in prices of food items has adequately demonstrated the value of agriculture to the economy of any commodity producing country.
In spite of such significance to agriculture in Pakistan's economy, for too long the country has relied on nature to support itself in meeting its irrigation water needs. While successive governments have talked about building new water reservoirs, little progress has been made by comparison to the prevailing needs.
The problem has been further exacerbated by the failure of Pakistan in putting together a bold and inherently new conservation culture. Across the country, key natural resources including water are wasted with little consideration to their need for security as it applies to human and indeed economic needs.
In the past nine years since president Pervez Musharraf seized power in a bloodless military coup, successive governments have repeatedly talked about the need to improve Pakistan's otherwise elaborate farm irrigation system. But little has been achieved by way of actual progress on the ground.
With wastage of irrigation water all around, thanks to a largely dysfunctional and inefficient irrigation system, little has been achieved by way of improving the delivery of irrigation water to farmers. Essentially then, water for farm irrigation has become more of a gift of nature during periods such as this week's monsoon rainfall, rather than a resource to be handled with care and responsibility.
Ironically though, in spite of such high stakes involved, Pakistan's present government has simply failed to ring the alarm bells to begin deal with what seems like a prospective catastrophe. If the already shrinking water resources shrink further, Pakistan lives with the danger of getting perilously close to a complicated turmoil.
For saving the economy from ruin, reviving agriculture is vital to Pakistan's future. For that revival and future survival, a lift to the way water is managed is indeed central to the country's outlook.
Going forward, it is essential for Pakistan to see two inter-related and radical improvements to the way the country is run. On the one, time has come for political leaders and policy makers to ring the alarm bells over the need to conserve resources. This does not necessarily just apply to managing Pakistan's water resources. Other natural resources have to be conserved and developed in sync with prevailing as well as projected needs for the future.
On the other hand, making the conservation issue a national cause requires the support of all major political parties.
- The writer is a journalist based in Pakistan.
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