Climate-resilient Water Resources dvlp. Community based pilot action for climate-resilient water resources development for life and livelihoods in Rod Kohi/Pachadh belt ofDistrict Rajanpur
In Pakistan, spate irrigation covers about 8% of the total irrigated area. It is locally known as Rod Kohi in KPKprovince and Punjab province and Sailaba in the Balochistan province. Across the country, it is often generally referred to as flood irrigation. This kind of irrigation relies on the floods of the hill torrents, which are diverted into a plain area, locally knownas Damaan. In the indigenous systems, farmers divert the spate flow to their fields by constructing breachable earth bunds (called Gandas) across the hill stream and/or stone/gravel spurs leading towards the centre of the river. Spate irrigation farming system ofRod-Kohi areas is a unique system of farming being practiced in Piedmont plains of D.I. Khan (KPK), D.G. Khan and Rajanpur (Punjab), Dadu (Sindh) and in Sulaiman ranges, Kachhi plain, Kharan and Lasbela basins of Balochistan. Balochista has about 1.2 million ha of Sailaba irrigated land. In Punjab province, flash flood water is mainly harvested from Sulaiman mountain range. In KPK, minor spate flows occur in spring and the major floods occur in summer as a result of monsoon rainfall on the Sulaiman range and Lakki-Marwat hills during July and August.
In these areas the major constraint is the use of flood flow which is highly variable in quantity and distribution, both in time and space. Annual rainfall is low and uncertain but brings large amount of water with each rainfall event. The agriculture of most of the areas of these regions is totally dependent on rainfall, although affected by flood with rainfall but most of the times remain without water.
It is unfortunate that in spite of scarcity of water, major part of flood flows is lost due to mismanagement. The major problem is the unavailability of any kind of storage and modernized engineering structures, though lot of efforts and money were spent in order to control thetorrents flow floods and in humanitarian/relief operations but storage is never considered important. If the proper storage facility and modernized structures are provided in these areas then not only the flood is controlled but also the drought conditions can be mitigated and the crops which have very less yield due to the unavailability of water can be enhanced.
The project, will build a knowledge base related to water sector especially water resource management through building facilities for utilizing perennial water from Darrah Kaha Sultan and attract the attention of the stakeholders to extremely water-stressed Rod Kohi belt of district Rajanpur which may be a turning point for these communities and Water Resources Management catalyzed by this initiative will revitalize the downtrodden communities again.
'Darrah Kaha Sultan', the major Rod Kohi outlet in the district located in Jampur tehsil, and its main perennial stream 'Alif Wah' with sub-streams is the main focus of the project.
Project Objectives:
OVERALL OBJECTIVE:
# To enable the stakeholders for efficient water resources development for increased agricultural and livelihoods productivity in water-stressed Rod Kohi/Pachadh belt of District Rajanpur through developing knowledge base and evaluating pilot interventions
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES:
# To assist water-stressed communities of Rod Kohi belt of Rajanpur in pursuing their struggle for water rights and sustainable livelihoods through increasing land productivity
# To evaluate the performanceof Rod Kohi/spate irrigation/water diversion system in District Rajanpur and identify innovative techniques for improving its performance and land productivity
# To contribute in water resources development efforts of Government of Pakistan throughdeveloping irrigation water resources in Rod Kohi areas of District Rajanpur