Cloud seeding technology: government to acquire technology to cope with drought like situation: NDMA chief

The government in collaboration with stakeholders concerned has started an effective response to deal with drought like situation in Balochistan and parts of Sindh. This was stated by Chairman National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Lieutenant General Omar Mahmood Hayat while talking to Business Recorder here on Monday.
"The facts being provided to me show 420,000 families in eight districts of Sindh and 135,000 families in 18 districts of Balochistan are explicitly undergoing drought impacts where millions of livestock have perished with billions of dollars economic and social loss," he further said.
Referring to the cloud seeding technology used in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other countries to generate artificial rain, he said that NDMA should conduct a research over the technology and approach those authorities to acquire the technology to cope with the drought issue.
He said that some global reports put Pakistan as third water-scarce country of the world which is contributing more to aggravate the drought conditions prevailing in the country. He said the secretary agriculture Balochistan informed him that underground water table has receded below 800 feet to 1200 feet whereas same situation is in Sindh's districts of Tharparkur, Metiari, Dadu, Hyderabad and others, which has increased the risks for social and agricultural development in the province.
"Pakistan has the ability to overcome the drought issue but it only requires proper vision and direction to take all the stakeholders together for a better and durable strategy to handle the situation," he remarked.
"The drought in 2018 has severely affected agriculture and livestock sectors of 8 districts of Sindh and 18 of Balochistan resulting in the loss and unavailability of food for half a million families and fodder for over millions of livestock," he said.
The NDMA in collaboration with PDMAs of Sindh and Balochistan held consultative seminars to mull over the prevailing drought phenomenon in the provinces and formulated a comprehensive report submitted to the President and Prime Minister Offices for approval and also with other relevant stakeholders, the chairman NDMA said.
The NDMA chief said that recently, the authority organised a national consultative workshop on drought mitigation, which was attended by the President Arif Alvi, Deputy Chairman Senate Saleem Mandviwalla and other senior state officials.
The event eventually culminated with the drought consultative process which NDMA started in October 2018 by organising a seminar followed by meetings in Karachi on 30th and 31st October, 2018, he added. The chairman NDMA said that the workshop enabled NDMA to grasp the ground reality and know exactly the extent and dimensions of the prevailing drought condition, its impacts on different sectors, relief provided so far and future needs.