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This irrigation channel near the village of Sir Ajmaira in Battagram District ran dry after becoming blocked by silt deposits and rubble from buildings destroyed in the earthquake.

USAID Brings Water To Batagram Farmers

Islamabad – A United States Agency for International Development (USAID) cash-for-work program has cleared nine kilometers of two of the most-blocked irrigation canals in Batagram District and re-opened access to water for 810 acres of arable land that will benefit 750 farmers and their families.

When the earthquake hit Batagram District in northern Pakistan on Oct. 8, its fallout went beyond destroyed houses and lost lives. Rubble fell into irrigation canals that snaked from nearby streams through town markets and into surrounding agricultural fields. Already struggling with silt deposits, the canals became choked, flooded some fields and ran dry in others. Preoccupied with emergency arrangements for shelter and provisions, local farmers could not afford to take on the task of clearing the water canals. As spring planting season approache, the canals needed immediate rehabilitation.

To clear the irrigation system with enough time for planting rice and wheat and to provide much-needed buying power to local residents, USAID funded a pilot program to hire residents to clear water canals around Batagram. USAID partner Save the Children worked with the local department of water management to identify the worst-hit canals. Two canals have been cleared so far and a third is under way, providing water to more than 810 acres of cultivable land and benefiting 750 farmers and their families. About 30 men work on a canal six days a week, making 200 rupees ($3.33) a day or 300 rupees ($5) a day as supervisors. Many are farmers who benefit directly from the free flow of water as well as from the earnings from the cash-for-work program.

"We’re earning money, my fields are getting water and other people’s fields are getting water," said Abdul, a farmer from Sir Ajmaira village who has worked to clear two canals over the last several weeks. Another Sir Ajmaira farmer, Ali, who lost a child in the quake, said he worked as a supervisor to clear the canals because he needed to grow rice, wheat and corn for his six remaining children. "If we don’t do this, what will we eat?" Ali said.

By restoring 9 km of the irrigation system so far and with more on the way, this program allows Batagram District residents to once again grow crops for their own use as well as for the market. This USAID cash-for-work program and many others like it help those affected by the earthquake generate income and return to normalcy while helping their neighbors recover and rebuild.

The United States, through USAID, is providing more than $1.5 billion in development assistance to Pakistan over the next five years to improve education, health, governance and economic growth. In addition, the United States has pledged a total of $510 million in earthquake relief and reconstruction efforts to assist the people of Pakistan and to support Pakistani government relief and reconstruction efforts.