Karachi: Saline water irrigation in Thar and other desert areas where salt water lakes are present can turn our deserts into grain basket and the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) should divert its sharp focus to this area, said Pasban Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman Altaf Shakoor here Sunday.
He said that many countries in the world successfully use saline water to grow crops with salt-tolerant seed varieties. He said as per media reports in Pakistan a wheat research institute had successfully produced a salt-tolerant wheat seed, but for the reasons known to policymakers this ambitious project was silently put on the back burner instead of practical implication. It is also said that the Sindh government had imported salt-tolerant seed varieties of different crops in the past, but then nobody knew about their fate.
He said in the Thar Desert there is Shakoor Lake, besides many other small salt water lakes in Achro Thar whose water could be used in saline water agriculture. These areas have very hot weather which could also produce huge solar energy, thus meeting all needs of salt water farming on a sustainable local basis. All that is needed is just proper government focus, and needed investment preferably from the private sector. He said here comes the role of the SIFC to invite interested investors to this untapped lucrative business of saline water farming in Pakistan.
He said the previous research about developing saline water resistant seeds in Pakistan should be unfrozen and agricultural universities and institutions in Pakistan should be asked to develop new seed varieties of wheat, paddy, olive and other crops in Pakistan to utilize our barren desert and coastal areas for farming where seawater or saline water lakes are present.
He asked the governments of Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan and other concerned quarters to play their due role in promoting saline water farming, adding; however, the main role should be played by the SIFC to explore and tap this highly lucrative agricultural sector. He said the saline water lakes could also be used for fisheries and their water after desalination with the help of solar energy could also be used for human consumption and other purposes. He said if the SIFC divert its attention to this field we can use our vast coastline and deserts for making the country self-sufficient in food. This would not only bring down very high food inflation in the country but also provide much needed food security to the nation.
