Diamer-Basha dam construction helps in agriculture

Diamer-Basha is a Concrete solid filled dam which is started to be constructing on Gilgit Baltistan on Indus River. Melting of Tibet and   Hindukash mountains Glacier is Source of River Indus.

Diamer-Basha dam construction helps in agricultureThe name of the project where dam is being raised is Basha in Diamer one of the beautiful districts of GilgitBaltistan. Development location is 40 km away from Chilas city.

First foundation stone was placed by the General Pervaiz Musharaff in 2006 but due to administrative and management problems the task was stuck. In Rule of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani to be found the second foundation stone in 2011 but the initial relocation of people and machinery problem, task was stuck till at present.

One of the supreme problem was relocation of people of who were active near the development area. Construction of model village by WAPDA, due to crooked supervision, village construction is hindered which delayed the scheme of dam construction.

According to WAPDA supervision 55 Billion rupees are given to people who were affected by the relocation but migrated people are not satisfied to paperwork.

Features of Diamer Basha Dam

  1. Due to creation of dam Indus River system produce 59000MW of voltage.
  2. Independently, DiamerBasha Dam is capable to produce 4500MW of energy.
  3. The Elevation of this dam is about 270 meters.
  4. In D.G.Khan, 0.65 million acre productive land will cultivated.
  5. Total, 30 million acre land will be irrigated by edifice of dam.
  6. Dam having capacity to discharge 50 million acre.
  7. Construction Basha Dam surges lifetime of Tarbela Dam about 35 years.

Why dam is important according to agricultural aspects

  1. Due to ecological factors, heat is increasing day by day. Due to high temperature water fatalities from farm and as well as from the basins are very high.
  2. High amount of rainfall increase the soil wetness and responsible for ground water refreshing which allows plant root to uptake water from the soil but due to low precipitation, we require high water access to improve our crop revenue. Dam is only the solution to save our depletion of water.
  3. About 22 million acre of fertile land is unproductive due to inaccessibility of water. By construction of dam this land will able to produce product which support our GDP.
  4. With 60% of Pakistan population directly complicated in agricultural range, up-to 95% of Pakistan water is used in agricultural practices. It is estimated that 50% of the water directly from agricultural purpose is lost, due to problems in irrigation system including waste, faulty canal and dripping purpose. If the dam is assembled annual revenue will increased when this water will operated for crop growth.
  5. About 30 million acre of land is irrigated by the Diamer-Basha Dam which increases the access of a common person.
  6. Dam provides improved ecological defense such as the holding of dangerous material and sedimentation.
  7. Due to availability of waste water there is an improvement in cropping pattern. For example wheat and forage to vegetable crop.
  8. Dam also changed and diverted river flow, affect existing rights and access to water of common people of village, and resulting in significant impacts on living of a common man and environment.
  9. Dam and irrigation system is only way of irrigation in Pakistan. There are no artificial lakes to irrigate the arid land behind the dam. So, it is utmost important to construct dams to mobilize our irrigation system efficiently.
  10. Construction of dam means energy and irrigation water is store until required.
  11. Main problem today is increasing Green House Gases . Electricity is also a major requirement of Pakistan. Energy produced by the Dam system don’t produce the GHGs which is also beneficial for agriculture also.

On July 4th 2018, the Supreme Court of Pakistan forced the government to originate construction on the dam for resolution of water storage. The Chief Justice of Pakistan gave a payment of Rs. 1 million in construction of dam. On 6th July, the Management of Pakistan set up a fund for building of dam. According to WAPDA administration about 12 million dollar are requisite to build the dam.

A country whose economy is reliant on farming having deficit of water is very shocking.  Water scarceness is one of the key warning for us in upcoming years. Our storage capacity is about 30 days but India contains storage capacity of 190 days. Optimum storage is about 180 days.

According to the figures of Asia Foundation improved water super vision could increase the revenue of Pakistan from $52 billion which is current to $200 billion per annum. Water is foremost part of life, Pakistan economy is based on Agricultural commodities and our main commodities are wheat, sugarcane, rice, cotton etc, which are very less moisture resistant.

Our land has prospective for improving both land usage and cropping strengths, if advanced irrigation and agronomic practices are implemented. In accumulation with activating local water user connotations, accurate conservation of irrigation set-up and mechanical provision of the agricultural and extension facilities can improve the output of our land.

Authors: Dr. Mubashar Nadeem,Muhammad Adnan, Mubashir Hussain,Akash Munawar and Hassan Noorani

Department of agronomy, college of agriculture, University of Sargodha

By Muhammad Adnan

I am professionally qualified as agronomist and studying MSc. (Hons.) agronomy at College of Agriculture, University of Sargodha, Pakistan and focusing on plant nutrition and weed management. I Completed my B.Sc. (Hons.) in agriculture in 2018 from University of Sargodha.