There are two cropping seasons in Killa Abdullah valley, Kharif and Rabi. Kharif crops are sown in summer and harvested in late summer or early winter, while Rabi crops are sown in winter, or during early summer and harvested in summer. The important Rabi crops are wheat, barley, vegetables and fodder.

The crops grown in Kharif season are fruits, melons, vegetables, tobacco, potato, fodder, onion etc. It is interesting to note that almost all the crops grown during Kharif season are cash crops. Which reflect that the farmers are commercially minded, mostly producing for the market. This also indicates that agriculture in the district is a mature sector. It is worth mentioning that fodder and melons are the crops, which are sown both on irrigated and non-irrigated areas. It may be concluded that the farmers behave rational. They use scarce resources (water) in an efficient and effective manner.

Pashtoon women are involved in agricultural related activities, but almost exclusively within the walls of their houses. Some elderly women do take part in assisting the agricultural activities, for which they are not paid. At the time of sowing and harvesting, the demand for seasonal labour increases and additional (male) labour is employed on daily wages. It is worth mentioning that a large portion of the rural local male labour from Killa Abdullah has migrated to urban areas in search of better wages. They were replaced by skilled Afghan refugees, who are hard working and submissive.

It is evident from the table given in section 1.1 that 41,620 ha of arable land is available for cultivation in the district. The area under cultivable waste is 20,970 ha. When scanning the table, it can be seen that 69% of the total 526,290 ha is not yet reported and that 10% of the area is not available for cultivation, due to it being mountainous land.

There are no time series data available to indicate the proportion of irrigated and non-irrigated area. However, according to the available information for the year 1995-96, the area under crops (Rabi and Kharif) was 32,070 ha. Out of this 28,610 ha was irrigated (i.e. 89.2%).

The process for generating Agricultural Statistics is as follows: The Field Assistant visits the areas before a specific crop is planted, and estimates the area, which is to be brought under a specific crop. Then they pay a second visit to confirm the estimates made earlier. A final visit is made when the crop is harvested. This means that in the case of wheat, the first visit takes place in November; a second visit is made in March and a final visit is made in July.

Looking at the table below, it can be noted that the major proportion of the area is under fruit production, followed by wheat production. During Rabi season, wheat is both a food crop as well as a cash crop. Cash crops are those crops which can be easily marketed. These include fruits, onion, potato, vegetables, melons, tobacco and fodder.

The figures show some unexplainable jumps in trends. During 1989/90 the area under fruit production was just 6,058 hectare. During 1990/91 it went up to 6,104, during 1991/92 there was further increase of 30% which could be correct to some extent. However, in 1992/93 again the area increased by 20% to 9,457. Most surprising, is that during 1993/94 the increase in fruit area was 65% to 15,571 and the latest figure for 1995/96 shows that the area under fruit production for Pishin district including Killa Abdullah increased to 39,182, a 146% increase in area over the previous year. Such increase cannot be explained with whatever assumptions are taken into consideration.

Source: Assistant Director Agriculture (Statistical Wing) Pishin.

Note: The published seperated figures for Pishin and Killah Abdullah districts were not available for 1994/95 and 1995/96. However, when the 1994/95 separate figures for both districts are computed, they don’t tally with the combined published government figures.

It is interesting that Killa Abdullah district does not produce subsistence crops. Moreover crops with a high water requirement (compared to their market price), are ignored. During Rabi, wheat occupies the major proportion of the irrigated area followed by barley, vegetables and fodder. In the Kharif season the major proportion goes to fruit production followed by melons (also a type of fruit); next vegetables and tobacco are preferred. Potato and onion are also important Kharif crops . Looking at the Rabi and the Kharif crops it is evident that the farmers mostly produce for the market, showing a highly commercialized attitude. They have diversified their cropping pattern over the years from subsistence farming to high valued cash crops.

It is evident from the pie chart that more than 2/3 of the area is under fruit production. Wheat is the second major crop, followed by vegetables.

The growth rate of average yields and total production of wheat, tobacco, fruits, and potato, compared to the provincial figures, are given below.

Fruit production is very important and dominant in the district; 57% of the irrigated area was under fruit production and if we add the area under melon production, the proportion of fruit area comes to 66%. Within fruits, apple and grapes can be singled out as the major district fruits.

Female labour involvement in the agriculture/ horticulture sector is negligible. Due to the tribal set-up, female labour is not involved either in Rabi or Kharif.

Agricultural production decision, are made by the male members of the household. During peak season when the need for casual labourers arises, they are hired on daily wages or on a special contract for the entire time as negotiated. In the district, most of the agricultural work is done through mechanization, i.e. tractors are used for the ploughing of land and tube wells are used for irrigating the fields. Therefore, the need for manual labourers is reduced to a great extent.

Productivity of irrigated areas versus rain fed areas widely differs. In irrigated areas the productivity is at least double compared to the rain fed areas. Of the various types of irrigation (kareez, springs, wells), tube wells are highly preferred. Another major difference is that the farmer is not able to plan his production in the case of rain fed cultivation.

The major source of irrigation during the last quarter of the 19th century was through karezes. The construction of karezes and their maintenance was an expensive business. The expenses for digging and maintaining karezes are to be shared by water users in proportion to the share held by each in the land. The work is carried out by a ‘Mirab’. He performs a very important task of water distribution. Nowadays tube wells have become the major source of irrigation because timing and the quantity of water to be used can be controlled; in other words, water resource utilization has become more efficient and effective. The maintenance of privately owned tube wells is the responsibility of the owner himself, while the maintenance of government owned tube wells is the responsibility of the Irrigation Department. The karezes and springs are maintained through community participation.

The table given below shows the sources of irrigation and the percentage of total cultivated area from each source in Pishin district, including Killa Abdullah.

According to the Agricultural Statistics of Balochistan 1994/95, the total number of tube wells in Pishin district was 2,592. Of them, 63% were electrically powered tube wells, while the remaining were diesel powered. The proportion of government tube wells in the total number of tube wells was less than 3%.

There are two types of drainage facilities/ schemes in the District:

As far as water resources are concerned, tube wells and open surface wells are mostly in private hands, with all rights vested in the owners. Whereas in the case of karezes and springs, rights of ownership are vested in the community. The costs of maintaining such channels are also shared in proportion to the land holdings.

There are some tube wells which are not being used. The reasons are that these tube wells are located in areas where the water table has dropped, due to depletion or because of a mechanical breakdown.

A number of irrigation schemes have been sponsored by different donor agencies in district Killa Abdullah. Some of them are currently under tendering process, some have already been completed and some are in the process of being implemented. These schemes are funded by the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank. The schemes were initiated for different purposes as:

There were 2,592 tubewells in district Pishin (including Killa Abdullah). Out of these 68 were Government owned. This means that 97% was privately owned. Most of the tube wells (63%) were electrically powered tube wells, while the remaining were diesel powered. As far as the number of tractors is concerned, there were 546. Out of these 96.5% was owned by individuals while 3.5% belonged to Government. The number of threshers was 111, with almost 94% belonging to the private sector. There was one harvester and one reaper, both belonging to the private sector.

According to Agricultural Census 1990, 80% of the reported farms were using only tractors, while 18% was using both tractors and draught animals.

There are various ways to use agricultural machinery. If the machinery is owned, the farmer uses it according to his need. Buying of tractors is not justified in the case of very small farms and even some of the middle class farmers are not financially able to purchase them. In general tractors are individually owned. Those who are not able to do this hire tractor services form the owner and this has lead to a rental market for tractors. Normally, for cultivation purposes, tractors are hired on an hourly basis. In some areas, payments are based on hectares cultivated. Tractors are multi-purpose machinery. Besides for ploughing, transporting and commercial use, they are also used for extracting water where electricity is not available (in Toba Kakari and Toba Achakzai). Similarly tube well hire services for irrigation purpose are available on hourly basis; the rates may differ according to the method of power generation (electricity/diesel).

Fertilizer is supplied through a network. The retailer gets his supplies from the wholesaler, who is normally the distributor within the district. Certified seeds are normally distributed by the concerned Agriculture Department of the district. Ordinary seeds are available from local shops.

The district produces large quantities of fruits and vegetables. Marketing of fruits and vegetables is not restricted to the province, but in many cases it crosses the provincial boundaries. It is estimated that 60 to 70% of the fruit production is marketed and consumed in other provinces. The market infrastructure, regulation mechanisms and marketing costs directly affect the prices received by the growers for their produce. There are numerous intermediaries operating at various stages of marketing. It is imperative to look at agricultural marketing in the national perspective. Marketing of all agriculture produce is in hands of the private sector while government is only involved in regulation and development functions. The process of marketing starts from the time, when the orchard is sold to the pre-harvest contractor at blossom. He manages the orchard till harvest. In most production chains, there is a dominant business force; in the case of fruits, it is a commission agent. He works like a bank providing credit to farmers, pre-harvest contractors and wholesalers. By providing credit, he gets a guarantee that the produce will be marketed through him. Marketing channels of fresh fruit are shown in the given figure.

Note: Valued at Quetta market rate.

Agricultural prices are a key element in the decision making process of many institutions. Government agencies assess the welfare of both producers and consumers, and plan price support programs. Farmers need good price data to make optimum management decisions and plan crop marketing. The producer-price of a crop is the price received by the farmer from the sale of his crop. The consumer- price is the price that retailers charge to the consumers.

The Agricultural Price Commission (APC) is responsible for recommending support prices for agricultural commodities. The main purpose is to safeguard the interest of the farmer. In reality the consumer and producer prices are determined through the market mechanism.

The main reason of variation between APC and market prices is that prices fixed by APC even don’t reflect the marginal cost of the crop. PASSCO is responsible for buying agricultural crops from the farmers at rates fixed by APC but in fact the prices for crops are normally higher than the APC rates. Therefore, the role of PASSCO in the district is negligible.

Change in level of agricultural incomes cannot be worked out without estimating costs of production for specific crops. District level data is not available for this purpose. However, agricultural prices of almost all the crops have increased over time. Yield per ha and total production of crops have also increased. The costs of agricultural inputs such as fertilizer, water etc. have gone up as well. However, the remunerative price relationship between input and output has remained in favour of farmers. Therefore it can be concluded that agricultural income has increased. Recently, government has substantially increased the procurement prices of certain agricultural commodities and reduced the prices of agriculture inputs like fertilizer. This will further increase the profit margin and income of farmers.

There are three important functions of the Agriculture Department at district level: agricultural research, agricultural engineering and agricultural extension. The objective of agricultural extension is to disseminate the results proven by research. Subsidised seeds are provided and its extension field staff introduces the application of new technology (optimum use of water, NPK, seeds etc.) to the farmers.

The Department, with collaboration and financial assistance from donor agencies, is also working on specific projects in the district. Under the On Farm Water Management (OFWM) water tanks and channels are constructed. Three quarter of the cost is paid by the agency and 1/4 is borne by the farmers. Another example is Precision Land Leveling (PLL) project. The demand for agricultural credit is far higher than its supply through institutional sources. Therefore, there is a wide scope for agricultural credit.

Legend: - no involvement

x minor involvement

xx substantial involvement

xxx major involvement