Soils Kech
Kech has two types of soil. Western and central part of Kech consists of alluvial soil while the remaining mountainous land is made of rock outcrops, lithosols, and rigosols. With the virtual absence of vegetation, soil formation is minimal. In the west, wide basins of Dasht and Nihing rivers bounded by hills and mountains, are covered with alluvial soils. The foothills are covered with talus cones and alluvial fans generally composed of gravel, pebbles, and sands. Beyond the foothills, the valley floors are covered with silt and loam. Kolwa and Dasht valleys are the largest un-irrigated tracts in Makran. Other such tracts include Buleda. Balgattar, Nigwar, and Kech valleys. These are fertile soils of great agricultural value in the rocky waste.
The mountainous area of the district is covered with lithosols and rigosols. Limestone, shale and sandstone are the main rocks involved in the formation of this area. Volcanic rocks cover the area in patches. Limestone yields very little soils. Most of the soils formed on the slopes are removed by wind, water, and gravity. These stony soils lie over the bedrock and are classified as lithosols. Over the flatter areas, rigosols dominate. Unlike lithosols these are usually not stony.
Soil in the dry crop (khushkaba) areas has more agricultural value than that of the irrigated lands. In irrigated areas continuous cultivation has gradually decreased all the nutrients in the soil. Shadows of closely planted date trees have diminished the nature’s process of nitrogen enrichment of soil by obstructing sunlight. Khushkaba lands are flood irrigated. Torrential waters from hill slopes bring along nutrient enriched soil, which is highly valuable for agriculture.
In Kech, soil is divided into four local categories; milk and mat for khushkaba, and rek and kork for irrigated lands. Milk, found in Balgattar, Dasht, Nigwar, and Kolwa, is white soft clay brought down from the hills and deposited by the streams and hill torrents. It is considered fit for all kinds of grain crops, specially wheat and barley. It has a great capacity of moisture retention thus it does not crack or harden. Another form of milk, called gach, is found mostly in Nigwar area. It becomes hard and uncultivable after two or three years of cropping. Mat consists of a thick layer of silt containing a mixture of earth and sand. It is found mostly in Dasht area where it is most suitable for cultivation of juar. Rek, soil of irrigated lands, is composed of milk mixed with sand. It is good for rice and zurrat (sorghum) cultivation. Rod is another type of soil found in irrigated lands. In order to cultivate in this soil, milk has to be mixed in it continuously. Most of such land is irrigated by kaurjos by which sufficient silt is periodically deposited to give the field a new lease of life. It is found only in few areas of Kech. There are some tracts of sorag, dak, pat, kallar, and kap soils but these are not cultivated.
In some areas, soil erosion through wind is a potent threat to agriculture in the area because in this way land is striped of soil, impregnated with nutrients. Afforestation can helping minimising this problem.