Take a closer look at this report. In the Punjab province of Pakistan alone, there were more than 1.2 million tube wells as of 2021. The question here is why there was a need for so many tube wells in a country that has the best irrigation system in the world. According to a report by Dawn News, Lahore has been facing an increase in water depth of three feet per year since 2013. Not only this, the vast area of Central Punjab is also facing an increase in water depth of 69.8 centimeters per year. The government is providing solar panels purchased from China to farmers under cheap programs, but why is it being ignored that these solar panels are playing the biggest role in the water shortage?
Assalamu Alaikum friends,
The vast province of Punjab, which has a history of more than 3,000 years, has been facing continuous water shortage for several decades. Many areas of Punjab, such as Bahawalpur, Umerkot, Bahawalnagar, Lahore, Multan, Gujranwala, and Kasur have been facing continuous water shortage for the past several decades to such an extent that water may become very expensive in the coming years. Here, a question arises that Punjab, a province whose economy depends solely on agriculture, does not have the most modern technology in the world, and this is the real reason, friends, that the installation of tube wells is increasing indiscriminately in Punjab, which is also increasing the problems of underground water. It should also be remembered here that this province has the best irrigation system in the world. It is such a good system that the world. The system is 10% better than the water irrigation system of the largest country, Russia, but despite all these systems, what is the reason why people are getting tube wells running on solar panels installed by the dog? And the biggest reason is that many aspects of this irrigation system fail because the cheaper and better the river water is for crops, the more damage is caused by the use of underground fresh water. Fresh water should be used only for limited human needs such as drinking and domestic use, but where this water is used for industries, crops, and all kinds of internal and external use.
Let's first try to find out what is wrong with this system and how this system is affecting the environment of Punjab in a big way, and how the government can improve by cooperating with this system. In this post, we should also understand how we can try to improve it at the individual level with our help.
First of all, the pictures that you have uploaded in this post What I am seeing are only pictures taken within an area of five acres where four tube wells are installed together and this is the situation in the whole of Punjab because after the arrival of solar panels, the farmers realized that if they are installed once, then the tube well can be used for a long time completely free of cost. This can also save electricity bills and expensive taxes, and at the same time, these sources of energy can be used for domestic purposes.
And this one thought is the main reason why, today, in many areas across Punjab, groundwater is rapidly decreasing. The main reason for this is that farmers operate tube wells using solar panels in the hot sun during the day and then give their water to the crops. One thing to remember here is that a tube well can extract thousands of liters of water from underground in a few hours and give it to the crops. Now when this work is done in the hot sun of the day, a lot of water that should be applied to the crops evaporates in the atmosphere, which They do not get the real benefits and as we know that during the day, the factors of respiration and photosynthesis are going on together and respiration is the process through which plants prepare their food which goes on faster at night, so using water in crops at night is the best because it also saves water and the growth of crops is also a little faster. But after the arrival of these solar panels, farmers were forced to water the crops only during the day so that they could avoid any kind of electricity bill. And in all these tube wells that I have shown you in this post, there is one thing in common and that common thing is that none of these tube wells is connected to any government electricity source, that is, if the crops around them are to be watered, then the question of watering them only during the day and not at night does not arise.
Community-level solution
Now there is only one solution to this problem, and that is this. The government should cooperate with the farmers and provide them with cheap electricity because it has become a compulsion for farmers across Punjab to participate in such programs that can provide free electricity sources, i.e., installation of solar panels. According to my knowledge, since I belong to a rural area, the savings that farmers get from crops are very low here, and to increase these savings, farmers take the step of installing solar panels. If the government provides subsidies on fertilizers, sprays, and seeds to the farmers and also gives discounts on electricity bills, it is possible to see some better changes.
Solution at the individual level :)
If we look at the individual level, a farmer is using a modern type of water irrigation system, such as a deep water irrigation system.
The land can avoid using a lot of water. Drip water irrigation system is a system in which plants are given only as much water as they need; that is, extra water or fresh water is no longer applied, which keeps a lot of water underground and saves water. Similarly, if farmers promote such crops more and promote such methods more in which crops can grow well with very little water, as is the case in countries like China, then this can also prove to be an important step not only in saving water but also in promoting modernization in agriculture.
What do you think about this? Do share your valuable thoughts in the comment section. Thank you very much for visiting the post. Allah Hafiz