Agriculture; Sujawal's changing landscape.

The coastal region of Sujawal seems to be a smaller district rather than a new entity since 2014 after having been carved out of the Thatta district. Indus marks the geographical boundary for the bifurcation of the two districts.

As the tail-end area of the Indus Basin Irrigation System (IBIS), it is the region where the mighty Indus meets the Arabian Sea to form part of the famous Indus Delta, said to be a fan-shaped network of several creeks.

Sujawal was once home to 'red rice', known as ganjo in the local language. However, the intruding sea has been devouring farmland in the delta and eroding soil. It has led to large-scale migration as villages shift to new locations.

Researchers believe subsurface sea intrusion, triggered by the absence of sustainable environmental flows post Kotri barrage that are direly needed to keep the delta's ecology intact, started affecting areas up to Mulla Katyar bridge and set off alarm bells for the community. Sea intrusion has considerably stripped the Indus delta of its hallmark of agricultural biodiversity, riverine ecology and productivity.

The release of Indus river flows Kotri barrage downstream is a permanent cause of discord between Punjab and Sindh, the primary water shareholders, when it comes to interprovincial water distribution under Water Accord 1991.

'Indus delta mainly comprises of present day Thatta and Sujawal districts. The degradation of the delta, with Sujawal on the left side of the river, is more vulnerable to coastal erosion when compared to the river's right side where Thatta is located', argues Prof Dr Altaf Siyal, Sindh Agriculture University's dean of faculty of agricultural engineering.

His research says that in 1833, the delta spread over 3.2 million acres, which has now shrunk to 247,000. It indicates a 92 per cent reduction in its acreage in terms of area. Area-wise tidal floodplains, he explains, in Sujawal are double Thatta's, which shows fast conversion of agricultural land into tidal floodplains.

'This area is sans adequate mangroves cover that helps absorb wave energy produced in any deltaic region, thus the fast-paced soil erosion. Sujawal's land is mostly flat, so it is vulnerable to sea intrusion more than Thatta's,' says Mr Siyal.

The federal government has lately planned Sindh Barrage, 160km downstream of Kotri barrage and 37-40km upstream from the sea, in the Indus delta to check sea intrusion. The proposed barrage's structure over Indus would be built in Sujawal...