Country braces for 25pc Rabi water shortage

Dawn reported that Pakistan is bracing for a Rabi water shortage of roughly 25 per cent, with the season starting this week. Wheat, the season's principal crop, is now at the centre of worries about food supply in the coming year. Even without a water shortage last Rabi, the wheat deficit is put at more than two million tonnes.

To cover the shortfall, the government ordered wheat imports of one million tonnes, with 750,000 tonnes due in November as the first phase. Output is estimated at about 27.5 million tonnes against a production target of 29.7 million tonnes, as farmers struggled amid shifts in wheat policy. Sources told Dawn that part of the expected shortage is man-made, driven by political considerations in the coalition, and that over 1 MAF of water was released unnecessarily from reservoirs in Kharif.

Reservoir carryover has dropped below 9.5 MAF, its lowest since 2021, after combined storage topped out at 11.6 MAF on Sept 9. The Irsa technical committee meets on Monday to finalise water availability and recommend distribution criteria, while the advisory committee has been tentatively called for Oct 5. The shortage is set to reignite friction between Sindh and Punjab over the three-tier formula Irsa applies.