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| Agricultural Potential of Pothwar Essay |
The climate of Pothwar comprises of semi-and in the southwest to sub-humid in the north-east. The rainfall is erratic. The monsoon rains are usually accompanied by thunderstorms and occur as heavy downpours resulting in considerable surface run-off and soil erosion in the hilly areas and uplands. Most of the annual rainfall in the semi-arid region occurs during June to September period. In north-east about 70 per cent of it occurs in summer. The winter rains occur as gentle showers of long duration and more effective for soil moisture replenishment then the summer rains. The total precipitation ranges from about 300 mm in the south-east to 1000 mm in the north east, suggesting a good potential of rain-fed (barani) agriculture if modern water-harvesting techniques are applied efficiently.
Most of the agricultural soils have developed from wind and water transported material comprising of bess, old alluvial deposits, mountain out-wash and recent stream valley deposits. Their texture mostly varies from sandy to silt loam and clay loam comprising from poor to fertile lands. The plateau has a flat to gently undulating surface broken by gullies and low hill ranges. About 60 per cent of the land area has been highly eroded leaving the rest as a flat land which constitutes the main cultivated area. Of the total area of 1.8 million hectares, 0.77 Anillion hectares are cultivated, the remaining are mostly grazing land. Again, of the cultivated area only four per cent is irrigated, while 6 per cent is under rain-fed agriculture. Thus, the major farming system in Pothwar is rain-fed comprising of four farming systems such as:
- Rain- fed farming system which is entirely dependent on natural rainfall.
- Sailaba farming system which is dependent on residual moisture of summer floods and rains in riverine areas.
- Rod-i- kohi farming system which is practiced by diverting and spreading the hill torrents.
- Khushkaba farming system which is practised in low rainfall areas by catching run-off from uncultivated blocks and diverting it to the bordered cultivated fields.
The irrigated farming system is currently practised on a relatively much smaller scale from small and mini dams and tube-wells. A natural lake, Narnal lake, is located in the ext reme south-west of Pothwar. Part of water from this lake is pumped for irrigation of adjacent areas but most of it is convoyed through a tunnel through salt range to irrigate lands’ near Mianwali.
The major rainfed crops grown in Pothowar are wheat, gram, groundnut, millets, sorghum, oilseeds, fodders. Very little of natural vegetation remains except at a few protected and inaccessible areas which have remnants of over thorn thicket savannah, while in higher precipitation areas dense forest occur in scattered pockets. Poor quality and scanty grass and scrub vegetation occur on steep eroded lands and mountain sides. Over grazing and removal of forest trees for firewood and logging in mountainous and upland areas is increasing soil erosion.
Livestock production is also one of the major economic activity in Pothwar which has over 25 per cent of total livestock population of the entire Barani tract of Punjab. Sheep and goats are the predominant species followed by cattle, camels and donkeys. Buffaloes are kept mostly in sub-humid areas or areas where water is readily available. Although various breeds of cattle, sheep and goats are found in this tract but it is the home of Dhani breed of draught cattle and Pothwar breed of goat.
Keeping in view the afore-mentioned background, there is a reasonably good potential of increasing agricultural production. Following suggestions are made for the consideration of the policy makers on priority bases for the development of Pothwar.
Intensive precipitation, steep slopes and erodible soils without adequate protection have led to extensive soil erosion and reduction in agricultural productivity in Pothwar uplands. The soil conservation technology is well established, but in spite of the efforts of various concerned government departments and projects costing billions of rupees during the last 4 years, soil erosion still continues to be serious menace. The government should constitute a highly expert scientists committee to evaluate the impact of soil conservation efforts thus far, determine various constraints and recommend new effective technology based on past experiences. Targets of soil conservation be set up for the concerned Government Departments and their progress be monitored for timely removal of any constraints and strict disciplinary action be taken against those found inefficient and corrupt.
Agricultural credit be given to the farmers who are mostly small farmers for reclamation of their eroded soils. The return of Joan may be allowed on easy installments when their lands become productive. Alternately, the Department of Soil Conservation may take their erosion effected reclaimable soils on lease and reclaim it. When it becomes productive, the department may return it. to the farmers after deducting the amount spend on its reclamation.
Harvesting of available surface, ground and rain water is essential for quantum leap forward in agriculture. Storing run-off water of hill torrents in small and mini darns has good potential for irrigated agriculture. The Small Dam Organisation constructed a number of small dams including Papin damn in Pothwar, but the life span of these dams was reduced due to silting up by the rain and torrent water Inflow from the bill slopes and Uplands; The Departments of Small Dams, Soil Conservation and Forestry should be made jointly responsible, for management of watersheds of the existing and future dams for prolonging their life.
Again, surface storage may not be possible everywhere but perennial and non-perennial rivers and streams running through Pothwar plateau carry substantial water, especially during monsoon season. The feasibility of lifting this water through hydro turbines or hydra-ramp pumps be studied. A single pump may lift water upto 30 meters height on the side of river or stream having cultivable area at 60-70 liters per second besides producing five kw of hydro-power. Installation of such pumps on seasonal streams may help to lift and store water in storage tanks or ponds during rainy season and to use it as supplemental irrigation to increase the yield of rained crops.
The drainage of the Pothwar is primarily through the Haro, Soan, Kansi, Bunhar and Kahan River System. They flow mainly in a south-westerly direction to the Indus River. As a result, there is good potential of using groundwater in riverine and river plain areas of pothwar. Turbine wells may be installed for bringing more area under irrigated agriculture. Besides, the approach to agricultural lands in these areas is difficult and the means of communication needs to be improved for efficient production and marketing. The government should ensure that the cost of these turbine wells is reasonable as it is projected much higher than the actual cost due to corruption in our system thus causing problems for the interested farmers.
Although the rain fall is erratic, especially in the semiarid areas of Pothwar, yet it brings considerable amount of water when it falls; 10 mm of rain equals to 100,000 litres of water per hectare. Harvesting this rain can provide water for regions where other sources are too distant and costly. The conventional practices conserve up to 30 per cent of rain water, but modern techniques enable to collect up to 90 per cent of it. Thus, there is great scope of run-off agriculture in Pothwar. Unfortunately, modern water harvesting techniques and runoff farming systems are unknown in our Barani tract.
The timely availability of improved seed, fertiliser pesticides and credit is one of the major problem of the farmers, especially the small and subsistent level farmers who cultivate larger farm area resulting in lower crop yields. The policy should be developed to provide all these input1s at the door steps of the farmers well before the sowing season of the crops. This can be done by opening distribution centres within five mile radii, after calculating the input and credit requirements of the farmers within each distribution centre as has been successfully done in Indian Punjab. The recovery of credit be made in cash or kind according to the convenience of the farmers.
The Barani Agricultural Research Institute, Chakwal is doing a good job in spite of its limitations. It should also lay emphasis on drought related physiological research such as to stress wheat seed with sjpra-optimal but sub-lethal temperature for a specific period 3efore sowing. It will harden the embryo within the seed and t will not only germinate faster but will also resist drought which is a common feature of barani areas. Due to often late sowing of wheat due to delayed rains its yield is reduced. One of the reason of lower yield of late sown wheat is the reduction of low cold period during it growing seas on. Research may be undertaken to soak the seed in gibberellic acid solutions of 100 to 500 ppm for different durations, depending upon the lateness of the crop. k will considerably meet the low temperature requirement of the late sown crop resulting in its higher yield. Again, the present linkages between research, extension and farmers are week and needs to be strengthen. While developing annual research programmes the farmers should also be involved to learn their problems which may need immediate research attention.
Due to increasing mechanised agriculture in the Pothwar as in the rest of the country, the need for draught bulls has significantly decreased. In their place, high milk yielding breeds of cattle such as Sahiwal and Red Sindhi be encouraged as their milk yield is much higher than the local Dhani cows. However, production of Dhani cattle may be continued to meet the requirements of beef and draught cattle of Punjab which still uses some five lakh of draught bulls. Similarly, high milk yielding Nih-Ray and Kundi buffaloes be encouraged in irrigated areas. Nevertheless, the major livestock problems in Pothwar are poor breeding, poor health, malnutrition and inefficient marketing which need immediate attention of the planners. Poultry production also has a good potential in Pothwar. The availability to the farm family of high quality protein in the form of meat and eggs is one of the cheapest and best way to improve the nutritional balance of rural diets in rain-fed areas. However, in those areas not economical for commercial poultry farming due to unsuitable marketing conditions or harsh environments increasing of domestic poultry farming be encouraged.
The development of rain-fed agriculture has not hitherto received policy priority it deserved, as it was considered a high risk enterprise. It is understood that the present government has earmarked Rs 320 million or the development of Barani tract. The major agricultural issues of this Tract are soil conservation, land development, water resource development, development of means of communication and marketing infrastructure and dissemination of modern technology to the farmers. It is suggested that farmers may also be involved in policy making decisions at district, tehsil and village levels.
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