By Zahiruddin
CHITRAL: The solarization of irrigation in Chitral is said to be the best resort with the government to cope up with the effects of droughts and turn thousands of acres of barren land into arable one thereby increasing agro-based products in the area.
Although each major valleys Mulkhow, Torkhow, Yarkhoon, Laspur, Oveer, Shehsi Koh, Beori, Golen and Terich have their own local rivers whose aggregate is named as Chitral River near Chitral town, but the landscape of all the valleys is such that the river lies underneath them making the gravity flow of water not possible.
A number of farmers complained that shortage of irrigation is the common problem of most of the villages divided into thirty six valleys across the district whose length exceeds 500 kilometers starting from Arandu in the south to Baroghil in the north.
They said that the irrigation department of the government has so far provided irrigation water to only half-a-dozen villages of the district by irrigation channels and maintains them by spending huge amount of money every year which passed through mountainous terrains prone to snow and mud avalanches during winter season.
Haji Hussain Shah, a farmer from Warijun village in upper Chitral, said that the coverage of irrigation department is less than one percent of the total area presently under cultivation while two non-governmental organizations namely Aga Khan Rural Support Program (AKRSP) and Sarhad Rural Support Program have also contributed in this sector.
He said that a number of irrigation projects of the government department failed after spending hundreds of millions of rupees on them which included Atahk, Droon Oveer, Lavi and Singoor where length of channels ranged from 15 to 25 kilometers that passed through hilly terrains.
Mr. Shah said that about 80 percent of the area under cultivation still lacked shortage of irrigation where only one crop is obtained although climatically they situated in double cropping zone and the yield per acre is badly affected by the scarcity of water.
Zafar Hayat advocate, a senior counsel of Chitral, said that litigation over irrigation water is common in the area and there were hundreds of cases being heard in different courts of law while murders have also been committed over dispute of water which signified the severity of the issue.
The putting in place of solar-powered pumping machines to lift the water from the rivers is said to be the only option available with the water-starved farmers of Chitral which is cheaper than the irrigation channel and its maintenance.
District nazim Maghfirat Shah said that there were vast tracts of barren lands in every part of the district which can be brought under cultivation by the low-cost system of solar-based pumps for which huge amount of money is required to construct irrigation channels and maintain them.
He said that in many low-lying villages, the villagers have installed solar-powered pumps to lift water from river during the last couple of years and the district government has taken initiative by including solarized irrigation schemes on small scale in its annual development plan.
Mr. Shah said that under the European Union funded development program named as Community Driven Local Development (CDLD) implemented by the district government, the schemes of solariazation of irrigation were being approved.
“But on large scale, only the irrigation department of the province can carry out projects for which he has already approached the provincial government with the proposal of solarization of irrigation system”, he said.
The district nazim said that if the fabulous hydro-electric potential of Chitral is exploited to its full by generating electricity on cheaper rate, then the electric power can also be used for lift irrigation in large scale.
He said that in the document of Chitral Growth Strategy which the district government has recently prepared for comprehensive development of Chitral, the idea of using cheaper electricity and solar power for the lift irrigation system have also been incorporated.
