Early Kharif season and Water Shortage

ابتدائی خریف موسم پانی کی کمی کا شکار

The Indus River System Authority (Irsa) on Friday projected a six per cent water shortage in early Kharif season and advised provinces to delay cultivation by two weeks till ice starts melting. However, there will be no water shortage in middle and late Kharif season as the country will have 10 MAF more water than the previous year.

This is the crux of a meeting of Irsa Advisory committee which met under Chairman of Irsa Asjad Imtiaz Ali to decide the availability and distribution of water for provinces during the upcoming Kharif season. Major Kharif crops are cotton, sugarcane and rice. The committee noted that the country would lose 25 per cent of total water available during because of system losses.

Irsa observed that 110 Million Acre Feet (MAF) water would be available for Kharif season, of which 23 MAF water would be lost. The committee said that in Jehlum and Chenab zones, the loss will be 10 per cent in the early Kharif season and 15 per cent in late kharif season. In the Indus zone, the water loss would be as much as 40 per cent, it noted.
It said that 67.25 MAF water would be available in canals for provinces. The body observed that the country would face 6 per cent water shortage in the early Kharif season. The committee decided that provinces would be given water according to their needs as the country would have more water than the previous season. "However, if the country faces water shortages, provinces would be taken on board to share it," the committee said. The country would have a carryover stock 11.5 MAF of water.
Later, Irsa's spokesperson Khalid Idrees Rana said that 10 MAF water would be released in Kotri downstream. He said that Punjab would get 33.6 MAF water and Sindh 30.25 MAF water for Kharif crops. "Balochistan will get 2.6 MAF whereas Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 0.8 MAF water for Kharif crops," he said. He maintained that 1.2 MAF carryover water stock was available in reservoirs. He said that major reservoirs, including Tarbela and Mangla, would be filled in August at 1,550 and 1,242 feet levels, respectively. Official said that there would be no water shortage in upcoming Kharif season starting from April 1 till September end.

Source: http://www.brecorder.com/

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What is Green Manure

Green manures are any crop high in nutriments that can be tilled back into the soil. Like all plants Green Manures capture CO2 and transforms it into sugars. Many have nitrogen fixing bacteria living around there roots which convert Nitrogen from the air to a form that plants can absorb The soil food web quickly decomposes Green Manure so the nutriments in the leaves and roots can be taken up by the next crop. Cover crops can also be inter-planted with other crops.

Benefits

Cover crops add organic material to your soil. They make the soil easier to work. Cover crops help the soil hold water and nutriment for easy absorption by plants. Many cover crops have deep root structure that improves soil aeration and when the deep roots decay improve the soil structure. The deep roots loosen the soil and mine minerals which are made available to the garden. Cover crops are cheaper than buying commercial grades of compost and soil amendments. They protect soil from compaction and erosion by softening the impact of rain. Cover crops reduce weed crops. They prevent the leaching of soil nutriments by absorbing them.

Determine your soil building goals. Is it nitrogen fixing, creating heavy biomass or breaking down compacted soil. Choose green manure crop for time of year and your soil building goals from the planting guide that follows. Mixing more than one crop together is a good idea.  Consider a strategy to under sow green manures under maturing crops.

It is best to harvest green manures right after they have started to bloom. Harvesting earlier is fine but plants will not have reached their maximum nutritional storage and bio mass. After flowering green manures become woody and after they seed and take longer to break down.

Bury them as you turn you soil or cut them off and chop them up. If you chop them up mix cover crop with the two inches of soil and treat as a mulch or use them in a side mulch. If you remove the chopped cover crop from your garden you will have missed out on its biggest benefit,

feeding your soil. Allow buried crops to decompose before planting (one to three weeks depending on crop, soil and weather.

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