Dear Editor,
Rice crops are affected by a water shortage in Region 2 because of the El Nino phenomenon. The affected acreage is not yet known, but farmers who have access to irrigation water are being advised not to waste it so other farmers on the higher lands can access it. All of the rice growing regions are being affected by the long dry season. The average daily discharge of rain is not expected to increase, and some amount of rice acreage would be lost because of the lack of irrigation water.
Many productive assets are either not being used at all or are producing below capacity. For example, Dawa Pumping Station and many drainage and irrigation systems malfunction and operate inefficiently because of poor management, inadequate maintenance or failure to correct some minor faults.
We need to identify and evaluate the drainage and irrigation systems which we have. Are they adequate for the purposes for which they were set up? Can they be improved? How can they be made to contribute maximally to the development effort of the farmers? When we are fully seized of the facts; when we have identified and assessed the economic potential of our region; when we have given thought to ways and means of making the fullest use of our potential, then we would have geared our region for the task of liberating our farmers.
Yours faithfully,
Mohamed Khan
