South Asia: Pakistan and the Himalayan States - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 197

Where' s the Water?
Since independence in 1947, Pakistan has increased its
cultivated land by one-third, largely through the expan-
sion of irrigation. Acquisition of water has always been a
challenge-waterworks date back 4,000 years. Both the
Mughals and the British constructed irrigation canals.
In 1960, the IndusWaters Treaty gave Chenab,
Jhelum, and Indus water rights to Pakistan and gave
Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej water rights to India. Then, the
World Bank-sponsored Indus Basin Development Fund
was established to build new waterworks and link west-
ern rivers with the fertile soils of eastern Punjab. The gi-
ant Mangla Dam on the Jhelum and the Tarbela Dam on
the Indus provided flood control, hydropower, and irri-
gation. The 2 mile (3.2 km) wide Tarbela, completed in
the 1970s, is the world' s largest earth-filled dam. T Today, ,
Pakistan has the world' s most extensive, continuous
irrigation system. Unfortunately , most of it is in a state of
disrepair. Funds allocated to fix it either have not been
allocated yet or never reach the designated recipients.
Shortages of water have generated tribal feuds over
its use. Reduction in irrigation water results in reduction
in crop yields. This means that farmers cannot pay water
usage fees for the next season and yields are lowered
again. Flooding in 1992, 2007, and 2010, brought too
much water to some areas. Lack of drainage and contain-
ment facilities meant that excess water was not stored for
the future. According to UNICEF , the 2007 flood killed at
least 300 people and nearly 4 million were displaced.
Early July 2010, Pakistan experienced the worst
floods in its history . Fuelled by global warming, the mon-
soon rains became torrential, bringing unprecedented vol-
umes of water to the northern mountains that contain the
headwaters of the Indus River. The subsequent southward
deluge inundated the river basin all the way to the Arabian
Sea. In the wake of the flood, at least 1,600 people were
killed, 900,000 injured, and countless millions ren-
dered homeless. Many of these people, including 3.5 mil-
lion children, were subjected to water and insect-borne
disease such as cholera and dengue fever. More than 8 mil-
lion acres (3.2 million ha) of cropland were destroyed,
devastating Pakistan' s already struggling economy .
Increasing water supply to croplands has a down-
side. Added water raises the water table—the upper
level of groundwater—and root systems can be inun-
dated. In Punjab and Sind for instance, the Indus water
table used to be 53 feet (16 m) below the surface. With
increased irrigation, it has risen to within 10 feet (3 m)
of the surface.

many Pakistani farmers sold their bulk wheat illegally
across the borders in India and Afghanistan. Selling
wheat outside of Pakistan has created massive shortages
within the domestic market and near-riot conditions in
many cities, especially in NWFP and central Punjab.
Paramilitary forces have been employed to oversee wheat
and flour distribution.

ONGOING PROBLEMS IN AGRICUL TURE
There are numerous underlying causes for Pakistan' s de-
clining agricultural production and food insecurity .
Some of these are:

Inequities in land ownership.
Water shortages and salinization.
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Insufficient and misuse of fertilizers.
Use and misuse of BT seeds.
Failure of government policies.

Who Owns the Land?
Pakistan continues to have a feudal-landlord system. In
fact, a mere 2 percent of the richest landlords control 25
percent of the agricultural land. About one-third of Pak-
istani farmers are tenant farmers, required to give 50 per-
cent of their crop to the landowner. Also, despite 1992
laws opposing the practice, indentured servitude is
widespread, especially in Sind and parts of Punjab. Poor
farmers, forced by circumstance to borrow from the
zamindaris , become victims of usurious interest charges
and can remain eternally indebted to a land-owning fam-
ily willing to exploit this situation for generations.
Pakistan has struggled with land reform in efforts to
reduce absentee landlordism, shrink large farms and en-
large small ones, consolidate fragmented holdings, and
increase peasant ownership. However, these efforts have
met with strong opposition from the landed rich, who
also hold political power. Improvements are virtually
negligible.
In 1947, a mere 1 percent of farmers owned a quar-
ter of the agricultural land, and 65 percent of farmers
held only 15 percent of the land. More recent studies
(2001-2002) reveal that in Sind, 80 percent of the people
own no land and in Punjab, 75 percent are landless. Con-
ditions are even worse in the remoter provinces.
While there has been some farm-size reduction and
an increase in the number of medium-sized farms, 34 per-
cent of farms are still under 5 acres (2 ha). A mere .08 per-
cent of households, representing the richest 20 percent of
the population, own farms larger than 5 acres (2 ha).