ISLAMABAD: Amid high system losses, the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) has projected water shortage of up to 30% for the Kharif crops, warning that the shortage will be even higher at the time when farmers would be sowing cotton, rice and maize crops, and likely to drop to 7% during the late season.
The Kharif season runs from April to September. For 2024 season, the water regulator has projected the availability of a total of 63.61 million acres feet (MAF) of water. Out of this, Punjab will get 31.13 MAF, Sindh (28.81 MAF), Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (0.82 MAF) and Balochistan would receive 2.85 MAF of water.
The Irsa Advisory Committee (IAC) met on Tuesday, with its chairman and member Balochistan Abdul Hameed Mengal in the chair. The meeting discussed water availability criteria for the Kharif 2024. It also estimated 13.67 MAF water losses during the season.
The meeting was attended by all Irsa members, besides representatives of the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda), the provincial irrigation and agriculture departments, Meteorological department and others
The IAC unanimously agreed on the data of anticipated inflows at the rim stations for Early and Late Kharif 2024.
The total inflows at rim stations were estimated at 99.41 MAF, out which 23.55 MAF inflows will be available in early season and 75.87 MAF in late Kharif. –Agencies
