The objective of Sindh Water and Agriculture Transformation (SWAT) funded by World Bank is to increase agricultural water productivity in selected Farmer Organization command areas and establish an institutional framework for integrated water resources management. SWAT would be implemented by 3 agencies including Irrigation Department, Agriculture Department and Planning & Development Department.

The project is designed to start the transformation process on several fronts, including: (i) creating an institutional framework for IWRM; (ii) modifying a century-old system of rigid irrigation practices through a modernization process centered on flexibly meeting the water needs of farmers; (iii) moving away from a system of perverse agricultural subsidies to smart subsidies that encourage high-value, water-thrifty crops; (iv) increasing investments in agricultural technology and promoting value chain development that boost agricultural productivity from the supply and demand sides, respectively; and (v) synchronizing agricultural and irrigation investments through a community driven development process at the FO level that will help ensure on-the-ground results that directly benefit farmers.

This component establishes a provincial IWRM system. It is inter-disciplinary in its activities and is implemented by the PCMU within the Planning and Development Department (PDD). Improving water resources management helps Sindh province better cope with climate change by improving monitoring systems, utilizing adaptive planning approaches that take climate uncertainty into account, and improving resilience to floods and droughts. It has 3 following subcomponents:

This component improves the performance of the multi-purpose canal network and irrigation service to farmers. It is implemented through SIDA, which is under the Irrigation Department. It improves water use efficiency by better matching water supply with demand and reducing losses, thus boosting climate resilience in the face of shifting seasonal water availability and more frequent droughts. The gender activities include increasing the representation of women in AWB, FO and WCA governing bodies and expanding the representation of female professionals in SIDA. It has four subcomponents:

This component promotes the adoption of climate-smart practices for traditional crops such as wheat, rice, cotton, and sugarcane as well as the transition to higher value, water-thrifty crops such as oilseeds, pulses, fruits, and vegetables. It promotes climate-smart agriculture to increase sustainable productivity, strengthen farmers’ resilience, reduce agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions, and increase carbon sequestration. Gender activities include ensuring female farmers receive culturally appropriate training activities and access to finance and increasing the representation of female professionals in the Agriculture Department. The activities are implemented by the Agriculture Department through five subcomponents:

This component supports overall project coordination and monitoring, and ensures the integration of the components to address the water–agriculture nexus. It is implemented by the Project Coordination Monitoring Unit (PCMU).

In SWAT, PCMU has two roles: i) implementing Component 1; and ii) as the overall project coordination and monitoring unit for the project under component 4. PCMU consists of following five sub components:

During project preparation and approval Sindh experienced unprecedented flood. The deluge devastated almost 60% of the irrigable command area and infrastructure there upon. The project development objective is not able to be achieved without restoration of infrastructure, thus with the consensus of donors the existing sub components are slashed down to create space for emergency repair to render the system operative. In Agriculture sector standing Kharif crop was destroyed leaving no financial ability for farmers to bear sowing expenses. As such provision is created to assist farmers in forthcoming crops in form Seed, Fertilizer and Land preparation.

Analogous to component-5, this component is inducted in the project with zero allocation for similar catastrophe during physical phasing spread over six years. In case of such event the amount allocated for component 1 to 4 will be eligible for appropriation to counter the damages on emergent basis.