ASIA

It is wheat harvest time in Sheikupura District, Punjab Province, Pakistan, about 40 kilometers northwest of Lahore. Out on his land, farmer Khushi Muhammed frowns and pulls the top off one plant and then another, rubbing the spikes between rough-hewn hands, blowing away the chaff and counting the grains. Unschooled eyes would not notice, but the kernels are not completely filled. “The crop looks good, but we expect lower yields than last year,” Khushi says. “The water shortage made the plants tiller more, and they’re shorter and the grain slightly shriveled.” The “shortage” is a severe drought —worst on record— began more than two years ago in Pakistan. In 2000 Muhammed’s village received only 50 millimeters of rain, one-tenth the normal amount. Sheikupura is considered a “moderately” affected district; farmers there were able to pump water from tubewells to supplement dying flows out of irrigation canals. But the problem with constant pumping is that water tables drop and water quality worsens.