Canal closure: DGK may miss sowing target.

DERA GHAZI KHAN -- Closure of the Chashma Right Bank Canal (CRBC) since the last year's flood has been badly affecting the sowing of cotton, rice and sugarcane crops in Taunsa Sharif and there is a possibility that the sowing target of these crops would not be met in district Dera Ghazi Khan.

The disastrous flood in 2022 badly damaged the canal in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. While the repair work has started in the KP, no such development was made on the portion of the canal lying in Punjab.

A local farmer told Dawn that the growers in Taunsa Sharif used to cultivate 300,000 acres of land but this time only 25pc sowing of cotton was done in the tehsil due to unavailability of irrigation water after the closure of the damaged canal. He said the farmers were not able to meet the sowing target.

A representative of the famers, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed of Taunsa Sharif, said unavailability of irrigation water and high rate of agri inputs and cost incurred preparation of field, pesticides and diesel played a role in less sowing of crops in the area. He demanded immediate restoration of the Chashma Right Bank Canal.

On other hand, in the Dera Ghazi Khan division, efforts are being made to run the canals with full capacity to achieve the desired goals of cotton cultivation.

In an online meeting, Commissioner Dr Nasir Mehmood Bashir said the canals should be run with full capacity for cotton cultivation.

'This month is very important for cotton cultivation. The capacity of water in canals should be increased.'

The commissioner said the available canal water should be used for cotton cultivation whose target had been set.

Dera Ghazi Khan Deputy Commissioner Shahid Zaman Lak said the closure of the CRBC had affected thousands of hectares in Taunsa but the capacity of water in the...