KHAIRPUR: Sukhai intently moved about the tunnel farm, plucking out bitter gourds under the harsh, relentless sun. The vegetable is grown usually during the summer months but in the fields of Sindh’s Thari Mirwah village, that isn’t necessarily so.

Sukhai, a 23-year-old intermediate student, is one of several women in her village in district Khairpur battling the effects of climate change through tunnel farming. The agricultural technique extends the growing season of crops by using plastic-covered, greenhouse-like structures to create a controlled environment. These tunnels protect crops from adverse weather conditions, allowing for earlier or later harvests of vegetables.

At Thari Mirwah, these tunnels are formed by fixing rods into the ground in an arch shape, forming a row of hoops. During the winter months, these rods are covered with polythene sheets to protect the crops from rain and cold weather, extending their growing season.

“In these tunnels, we grow off-season and seasonal vegetables,” Sukhai, who only uses her first name, told Arab News. “We now have cultivated bitter gourd, sponge gourd and cucumber,” she said, carrying the vegetable in a basket.

Pakistan is consistently ranked among the world’s worst-affected countries due to climate change. Irregular weather patterns, which include excessive rains and droughts, have hit the country’s agriculture sector. For example, cotton has been the worst-hit crop, with its produce decreasing to five million bales a year this financial year from a record 15 million.

Cataclysmic floods, triggered by the melting of glaciers and unusually heavy rains, killed over 1,700 people and inflicted damages worth $33 billion in June 2022. To help locals recover from the economic losses of the floods, international relief organization Malteser International BMZ and the Sindh government-funded Sindh Rural Support Organization (SRSO) joined hands to build 10 tunnel farms in Kharirah, Pir Budhro, Sabar Rind, Mehar Veesar, and Hindyari areas in the southern Sindh province.

Sukhai said the floods of 2022 destroyed all of her crops and agricultural lands, dealing a massive economic blow to her family. Now her and several other women of the village are trying to make ends meet through tunnel farming.

Kanwal Hussain, a district project officer at SRSO, said the women farmers are producing 10-15 kilograms of vegetables daily on their 50 by 50 tunnel farms. Malteser International has provided 570,000 euros in funds for the tunnel farming project.

“For tunnel farming, we have selected vulnerable communities which have very little land available for farming,” Hussain explained, adding that all they required to make a tunnel farm was land 100 feet in length and width.

In its recent assessment, the World Bank said 45% of Pakistanis live below the poverty line, up from the previous rate of 39.8%.

Rukhsana is one such 50-year-old mother of five, who is fighting off poverty in Thari Mirwah by growing climate-resistant vegetables.

“I have five kids and my husband is jobless so we grow these vegetables,” Rukhsana told Arab News. “We eat these vegetables as well as sell them when the villagers come to buy some.”

The women farmers say they earn as much as Rs50,000 ($176) profit every month, which is then shared between a three-member Business Development Group that cultivates each of the 10 tunnel farms.

“We are three members who work and grow these vegetables together and share the profits,” Sukhai, who is using her earnings to support her family and complete her education, said.

And the going is getting tough for her as she has a widowed mother and nine siblings to look after.

Hussain, on the other hand, is a bit concerned about the surging temperature in Pakistan. She hoped to convince her foreign donors to extend the tunnel farming project to other areas prone to floods and climate disasters.

“The temperature here stays between 45 to 50 degrees [Celsius] during the daytime and surges to as much as 51 degrees Celsius,” Hussain said.

Tunnel farming is not only a means of sustenance but is also helping people like Sukhai dream big. She wants to complete her studies and help her family out with the money she earns.

“I want to complete my studies to do a job. I want to become a doctor,” Sukhai said.