Improving groundwater management to enhance agriculture and farming livelihoods in Pakistan

Continuous decline in groundwater levels and spread of salinisation is rendering fertile lands unusable. The groundwater decline in Balochistan province, for example, has reached several hundred metres. This makes pumping more expensive and undermines farming livelihoods, especially for poor smallholder farming families. Electricity subsidisation, inefficient irrigation practices and lack of regulation creates a situation throughout Pakistan where water use efficiency is a low priority and groundwater extraction is pursued unregulated in order to maximise profits. Lack of reputable and extensive data and information, lack of awareness about groundwater management at all levels and socio-political and institutional constraints compound the challenge to maintain productive and sustainable groundwater use.

The project will use a case study approach to enable in-depth understanding of particular groundwater systems and associated socio-political contexts, and to engage and build capacity of groundwater managers and users in each case study context through collaboration. The three provinces selected for the case study investigations represent a diversity of groundwater use and conditions due to their different hydrogeological settings, but they provide similar opportunities to enhance agriculture and livelihood outcomes through improved groundwater management. This case study approach will necessarily rely on maximising participation of Pakistani-based researchers and agency staff, including an extended number of partners and other collaborating stakeholder organisations in each case study location.

The project aim and research activities are fundamentally oriented at capacity building for enhancing agricultural sustainability with a focus on improved groundwater management. This is reflected in the long-term (ten-year) desired outcome from this project: to have groundwater management operating in ways that enhance the livelihoods of farmers in Pakistan. For our project to deliver on such a long-term outcome requires careful consideration of the foundations that a four-year project can provide. Indeed, impact analysis needs to be iterative, evolving through interaction and discussion with collaborating stakeholders as the project develops, and outcomes are achieved. By the end of this project, the foundational outcomes to help deliver on the longer-term impact are: 1. Farmers, farming organisations and partner non-government organisations have started introducing improved groundwater management practices. 2. Government agencies in Pakistan have started developing/ demonstrating improved groundwater-related planning, monitoring, management strategies/options and policies. 3. Relevant provincial-level government agencies, non-government organisations and farming organisations have developed effective partnerships for ongoing discussion on groundwater management issues and solutions.