05/11/2020
On Farm Water Management-Punjab history & activities briefed-Malik Muhammad Akram Director General Agriculture (OFWM) Punjab - Pakistan. Background: Initiation of the OFWM Project was preceded by more than twenty years of research on various aspects of irrigated agriculture in Pakistan. The research conducted by Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) at the Mona Experimental Station in Punjab with assistance of Colorado State University, showed alarming extent of water losses from deteriorated watercourses and inefficient irrigation practices on the farm for the first time. These early studies resulted in diagnosing huge water conveyance losses in the watercourses which on an average are 40-50% of water delivered at the outlet (i.e. about half of the flow at the mogha did not reach the fields). Huge water wastage from the watercourse commands, diagnosed by these research studies, highlighted the urgent need to overcome this acute problem. Moreover, through experiments at Mona, new methods were developed and tested to improve watercourses through properly designed channels, partial concrete lining and installation of concrete turn out structures called nuccas to eliminate cutting of watercourse banks.
First Project : In October 1976, the first On Farm Water Management (OFWM) Project was launched as a five year pilot program with assistance of United States Assistance for International Development (USAID) for farm level participatory conservation of irrigation water through improvements in conveyance & application efficiencies and water productivity. The major objective of the project was to increase overall irrigation efficiency through improvement of community watercourses, precision land levelling of farmers' fields, and adoption of advanced irrigation agronomic techniques. Its ultimate goal was to foster "increased agricultural production and improved income for the low income farmers in Pakistan. This scheme was completed during 1979-80, which was followed by various OFWM” projects in the entire province with the financial assistance of international donor agencies viz-a-viz World Bank, IDA, IFAD, OECF, Japan, ADB, and FAO. Because of its limited scope and duration the project was not intended to achieve a significant increase in national food production in its own right. It was rather to serve as a demonstration in selected areas for increased food production and income from improved water management. An important sub-goal of the project was the achievement of appreciation from Government of Pakistan of the value of OFWM as a concept in its agricultural planning, evidence of which would be inclusion of OFWM in national planning, increased budgetary support and subsequent replication of the project.
