An Assessment of Warabandi (Irrigation Rotation) in Pakistan: A Preliminary Analysis

Abstract

A significant feature of Pakistan's agriculture is that it is served by the Indus irrigation system, which is one of the largest contiguous irrigation systems in the world. The system comprises of the Indus River and its tributaries, three major storage reservoirs, 19 barrages/headworks, 43 canals, and 12 link canals and 43 canals covering about 43,000 chaks or village settlements. The total length of the canal system is about 40,000 miles with over 80,000 water courses, field channels ' and ditches running for another million miles. About 100--106 million acre feet (MAP) of surface irrigation supplies are diverted annually into the canal system. Only 60 percent of this water reaches the farmgate due mainly to low efficiency in the delivery of water. The historical review of the area, production and yield trends shows that agricultural production in the past has increased mainly due to expansion in irrigated acreage while the contribution of changes in yields has been insignificant. In general, agricultural production can be increased by either expanding the irrigated cropped area or by raising the crop yields. It is highly unlikely that Pakistan will be able to satisfy the food needs of the rapidly increasing population through yield increases alone. This means that there ia a need to increase the irrigated cropped area through additional water supplies and by improving the efficiency of water use through using the water resources in a scientific manner.

Water governance and adaptation to climate change in the Indus River Basin

“…Of course, even within provinces, allocation of water based on economic incentive will face political and social challenges. At the local level, water allocation is achieved by traditional methods such as warabandi (Qureshi et al, 1994) and informal water markets (Strosser and Kuper, 1994;Bandaragoda and Rehman, 1995;Akram, 2013). The degree to which these markets are able to adapt to climate change is an open research question.…”

Assessment of Irrigation Development in the Small Dams Command Area: A Case Study of Palai Dam, District Charsadda

“…One such water distribution system is Warabandi. Warabandi is a rotational based irrigation system which is accomplished by assigning the entire flow of the watercourse to one farm for a specified period once every seven days (Qureshi and Hussain, 1994). The term warabandi is consists of two words "wara" mean "turn" and "bandi" mean "fixed".…”

“…In both the villages pacca warabandi is practiced. Pacca warabandi is officially recognized scheduled by the irrigation department in contrast to kaccha warabandi which is decided solely by farmers on their mutual agreement (Qureshi and Hussain, 1994). Normally a farmer gets his turn in seven days or in some cases when the water is highly scarce the cycle became ten and a half days.…”

Assessing Water Charges under Changing Institutional Irrigation Management in Pakistan: A Methodological Framework

“…A comprehensive discussion on warabandi, its principles, and the actual situation in the field can be found in [Malhotra (1984); Makin (1987); Chaudhry and Young (1989); Bhatti and Kijni (1990); Merry (1990); Qureshi et al (1994), and Bandaragoda and Saeed (1995)].…”