Pakistan is confronting a significant water shortage of 30% at the start of its sowing season, threatening vital cash crops such as rice and cotton. The Indus River System Authority (IRSA) attributes this gap to lower-than-normal winter snowfall in the northern glacier regions, affecting the catchment areas of the Indus and Jhelum rivers essential for irrigation.
Kharif crops, which include rice, maize, sugarcane, and cotton, are sown in April and require wet and warm climates with high levels of rainfall. The current deficiency in water supply poses a serious challenge to farmers and the agricultural sector at large.
“There was less snow than normal as a result of climate change affecting the country’s glaciers,” said Muhammad Azam Khan, assistant researcher with IRSA, on Wednesday. “This will have a direct impact on the availability of water for Kharif crops in the summer.”
The water shortage gap is expected to narrow as monsoon rains arrive later in the season. However, the country’s meteorological department has forecast higher than normal temperatures during the monsoon season, increasing uncertainty.
Agriculture is the largest sector of Pakistan’s economy, contributing about 24% of its GDP. “What this current water shortfall means for the crops is that authorities will have to better plan how to utilize the water that is allotted to them,” Khan added.
Pakistan, the world’s fifth-largest country with a population exceeding 250 million, has been grappling with the profound impacts of climate change, including shifting and unpredictable weather patterns. Devastating floods in 2022, which scientists linked to climate change, affected more than 30 million people and severely impacted Pakistan’s cotton crop that year.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
