A plenary session titled “Australian Water Innovations in the Indus Basin” at the 6th Pakistan Water Week 2026 highlighted more than 40 years of cooperation between Australia and Pakistan in agricultural research. The session was part of a larger conference, “Commitments to Action: Advancing Water Security and Climate-Resilient Food Systems in Pakistan,” held in Islamabad from November 2 to November 5.
The session brought together experts from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), whose partnership with Pakistan began in 1984. This collaboration spans various fields, including water management, livestock, horticulture, crops, and agricultural policy.
During the event, Dr. Neil Lazarow, ACIAR Research Program Manager for Water, launched a 4.5-year, AUD 3 million project focused on climate-adapted livelihoods in Sindh province. The project will involve eight partners from Australia, Pakistan, and Norway working with communities on three overlapping pathways: agriculture, migration, and entrepreneurial activities. The initiative will use a community-led, gender-responsive, and inclusive approach, with solutions co-designed through action research over four to five years before scaling up to inform policy.
“Water security is fundamental to a sustainable agricultural sector in Pakistan. This session showcased ACIAR-supported research in Punjab and Sindh that is improving our understanding of water resources, agricultural water productivity and water governance, to support better livelihood outcomes for smallholder farmers and rural communities,” said Dr. Lazarow.
Dr. Munawar Raza Kazmi, ACIAR Country Manager for Pakistan, stated that the partnership relies on locally led research. He reported that soil moisture sensors deployed across provinces have delivered water savings of around 30 per cent and productivity gains of 15 per cent for farmers. “Partnership is at the heart of ACIAR’s work in Pakistan. We bring Australian and Pakistani expertise together to co-design research that responds to local priorities, rather than impose Australian technologies. It is about supporting locally led solutions that emerge from the needs and knowledge of our partners and farming communities,” said Dr. Kazmi.
Other ACIAR-supported work presented during the session included:
Salinity management: A community-centred project in the southern Indus Basin (2021–2024) involving 15–16 institutions found that solutions co-designed with farmers outperformed top-down interventions. Women and youth participated as co-researchers. Separate work on saline agroforestry produced 31 arboretum sheets and a mobile application for farmers, covering 24 districts in Sindh and six in South Punjab.
Climate-resilient water allocation: The Indus River System Authority is now using pre-season and intra-season planning tools. Researchers recommended informal water markets and stronger on-farm storage to improve efficiency.
Smarter investment: A six-dimension framework (agricultural, financial, economic, environmental, social and governance) is assisting decision-makers in evaluating water infrastructure schemes on evidence before funds are committed.
Pulses: Technology adoption is being supported to reduce Pakistan’s annual pulse import bill of about one billion dollars.
Artificial intelligence: Speakers outlined opportunities in satellite-based crop water deficit monitoring, real-time ground sensing, and decision support for canal command management. They stressed that AI-driven water governance must be accompanied by transparency, equity and accountability.
Mohsin Hafeez, Strategic Program Director, Water, Food and Ecosystems at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), presented ACIAR’s investment in the Policy Innovations Science Program. This programme aims to bridge the gap between water research evidence and national policy uptake in Pakistan. “Evidence changes outcomes only when it reaches those who make decisions. By strengthening the link between science and policy, and by building institutional capacity that outlasts individual projects, we can turn field-level innovations into governance that works for Pakistan’s farmers and communities,” said Dr. Hafeez.
