Drought conditions in Pakistan may worsen

Pakistan's meteorological department has warned that drought-like conditions currently prevailing in parts of Sindh and Balochistan provinces may exacerbate and cause water stress in cultivated lands, according to a media report.

The National Drought Monitoring Centre, part of the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), issued an advisory on Thursday which showed the situation has emerged due to overall below than average rainfall in the country from October 2020 to January 2021, Dawn newspaper reported.

According to the advisory, most of the central and southern districts of Balochistan are experiencing mild to moderate drought. Keeping in view the climatology and current seasonal forecast of the PMD for these areas, drought conditions may exacerbate and affect agriculture and livestock.

"Dry conditions will cause water stress in the cultivated lands/areas of the country due to limited supply of irrigation water for Rabi crops," the advisory said.

Most districts in the west to south-west Balochistan are winter rainfall dominant and rainfall amounts lie between 71mm and 231mm, it adds. In Sindh, drought conditions are prevailing in the south-eastern parts of the province.

Explaining the prevalent drought conditions, Sardar Sarfaraz, representing the Met department, said Balochistan's weather pattern showed that it received 60pc to 70pc of its annual rainfall in winters, while Sindh remained dry from October to May.

"Since, the dry spell this winter has led to mild to moderate drought conditions in most parts of Balochistan, the situation may go worse as the province normally doesn't receive good rains in the monsoon season," he said.