On Farm Water Management (OFWM) program of Agriculture Department has been recognized as one of the four major driving forces for transforming the Punjab’s agriculture into a science-based, vibrant, and internationally linked sector. The objective of OFWM is to maximize crop and water productivity by ensuring efficient conveyance, application and use of irrigation water viz-a-viz promoting improved water management interventions through user participation.
Initiation of the OFWM Project was preceded by more than twenty years of research on various aspects of irrigated agriculture in Pakistan. The research conducted by Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) at the Mona Experimental Station in Punjab with assistance of Colorado State University, showed alarming extent of water losses from deteriorated watercourses and inefficient irrigation practices on the farm for the first time. These early studies resulted in diagnosing huge water conveyance losses in the watercourses which on an average are 40-50% of water delivered at the outlet (i.e. about half of the flow at the mogha did not reach the fields). Huge water wastage from the watercourse commands, diagnosed by these research studies, highlighted the urgent need to overcome this acute problem. Moreover, through experiments at Mona, new methods were developed and tested to improve watercourses through properly designed channels, partial concrete lining and installation of concrete turn out structures called nuccas to eliminate cutting of watercourse banks.
The Water Management Wing of Agriculture department has the following main functions:
