By SKM
May 18, 2025
ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has asked Pakistan to enforce the e-Abiana system in Punjab and roll it out to other provinces to improve irrigation water pricing and revenue collection.
In its staff report released on Saturday after the completion of the first review, the Fund said that this initiative would also help strengthen water management and make the use of scarce water resources more efficient.
According to top officials in the Water Resources Ministry, there are estimates that a revenue of Rs300-325 billion could be earned by the four federating units, and it could be utilized to upgrade respective irrigation systems and finance future national water projects such as dams. However, the federal government is already in the process of working on the new water pricing in consultation with the provincial governments under which the four federating units would also finance the national water projects such as dams in the country. The task force on the water in 2012 recommended that the cost of pumping out the groundwater for one-acre stand at $25-$80, which should be the pricing of surface water per acre in one year. If the government starts charging the minimum $25 (Rs7,000) per acre annually from farmers, the revenue will go up to Rs300-325 billion since Pakistan has 45 million acres of agricultural land.
The Punjab government on December 5, 2023, increased the water pricing for irrigating various crops to Rs400-2000 per acre per year with effect from Rabi season 2023-24. As per the notification by the government of Punjab, water rates have increased for Kharif crops which include sugarcane crops to Rs1600 per acre, rice Rs2000, cotton Rs1000, vegetables Rs1200, Maize Rs1200, Orchard Rs1000, and fruits Rs1000, per acre every year.
For Kharif crops, the water prices have been revised for wheat to Rs400, gram 200, (pulses Rs400, oil seeds Rs400, fodder 400 in both Rabi and Kharif seasons), vegetables Rs1200, and fruits Rs1000 per acre.
In addition, the Punjab government also notified the price of Rs2000 per acre as an additional water rate for sanctioned gardens and Rs2250 per acre every year for state-owned lift irrigation.
Earlier the annual water pricing was at Rs80 per acre in Kharif season and Rs125 in Rabi season. However, KPK and the Punjab government in different areas are charging water prices up to Rs400 per acre annually. The revised prices are still at the lowest ebb.
The Council of Common Interests (CCI), the officials said, has already approved the National Water Policy in 2018, but the provincial irrigation departments are not taking the required prices of the water surface from the landlord farmers.
They said the World Bank would be approached to explore the possibility of providing technical assistance and financial assistance by way of deploying a team of water sector experts conversant in the fields of irrigated agriculture, cropping pattern, land and soil types, and infrastructure development.
This team will study the Indus Basin Irrigation System (IBIS) and areas that are outside the Indus Basin like in Balochistan in order to develop a rational and robust water pricing mechanism as well as suggest an effective enforcement. The World Bank would also suggest an effective enforcement methodology.
The study would also focus on the land use classification with a clear delineation of areas presently receiving irrigation water along with the cropping pattern being followed by farmers during Rabi and Kharif seasons. The study would also emphasize the delineation of the areas representing soil types along with their fertility potential besides mapping irrigation infrastructure covering the whole range from a barrage or dam to the farm-level irrigation channels.
The World Bank would also conduct a study on the water requirements of crops being grown in the Indus Basin system and Balochistan and would work on the water availability in terms of surface and groundwater supplies to farms.
Reliability and efficiency of water supplies to farmers in terms of timeliness and adequacy of requisite irrigation water required at the time of irrigating the given crops would also be part of the study.
The study would also cover a social survey to assess the willingness to pay the water price by the farmers to the government. Ends
