In Killa Saifullah district agricultural crops are categorised in two types, Rabi and Kharif, according to their cultivation seasons. Rabi crops are sown in winter and harvested in late winter or during early summer. Kharif crops are sown in summer and harvested in late summer or early winter. The major Rabi crops of the district include wheat, barley and cumin. Kharif crops in Killa Saifullah district include potato, tobacco, maize, onion, melons, chillies, jowar and pulses including mash and moong. Vegetables and fodder are cultivated throughout the year. All the fruits are produced in Kharif season. Tomato, almond and apple are the major cash crops. Agricultural labour is predominantly male. However, women are involved in allied activities – like manure collection which subsequently is used as fertiliser – and storage of grains. Women’s labour is usually unpaid. Mostly the farming activities are performed by the land owner himself but tenants are also employed, depending on the size of the land holding.

In Killa Saifullah district, agricultural land can be classified into irrigated and un-irrigated. Irrigation land has permanent sources of water like tubewells and open surface wells. Un-irrigated land is either rain-fed, locally called khushkaba or flood irrigated (sailaba). Fruits, onion, potato, melons, chillies, tobacco, vegetables and fodder are exclusively cultivated on irrigated land. Some crops are cultivated in orchards. Crops like wheat, jowar, barley, cumin, maize, pulses, melons and some of the fodder are cultivated in both irrigated as well as un-irrigated lands.

The Agriculture Department has sub-divided the net potential area available for cultivation into current fallow, net sown, area sown more than once and cultivable waste. In Killa Saifullah district, 96 percent of the area is either not yet reported, area under forest, or not available for cultivation. The arable land constitutes only 3.2 percent of the total area. However, keeping in view the number of tubewells these figures seem suspicious (see also paragraph 1.1).

Killa Saifullah district is a semi-settled area. The last land settlement record was compiled in 1955 and to date the same settlement record is being used for revenue collection as well as ownership rights. In Killa Saifullah district, land ownership is of two types: personal and communal. The communal lands are owned by the entire clan and the yield of everything cultivated on these lands is divided among the entire clan.

According to the 1990 Census of Agriculture, 77 percent of the land-holdings in Killa Saifullah district is sized below 5 hectares while only 4.1 percent of the farms were larger than 20 hectares. In non-irrigated areas the size of land holdings is relatively large, however, no account is available about these areas.

Tenancy is not very common as farm sizes are small and most of the farmers work on their fields themselves. Some large land and orchard owners employ tenants or orchard labourers. Tenancy contracts are not formal and a verbal understanding is considered enough. In case of crops the tenant retains one third of the total yield, while in case of orchards about 1,500 rupees per month are paid to the labourers. In both cases all the inputs are provided by the land owner.

Agricultural statistics are collected primarily by a Field Assistant posted in every Union Council. An Agriculture Officer at district level is responsible for compiling district data and sending it to the Statistics Wing of the Agriculture Department through the Assistant Director for Agriculture Extension. The Directorate General of Agriculture Department compiles and publishes this data in the form of Agriculture Statistics of Balochistan, every year. It has been a common complaint that the Statistics Wing of the Agriculture Department does not use the data sent by the Extra Assistant Directors. It is evident from the agricultural data collection process that data are compiled at the Union Council level, but that only the cumulative figures are provided and published. This practice not only gives an overall picture and also impedes planning for agricultural development at the grass root level.

Wheat is the major agricultural produce of the area as it is cultivated on about one third of the net sown area. It is generally cultivated in irrigated areas. However, it is not a cash crop. The highest earning (about one third of the total agricultural produce value) is from tomato, followed by almond, apple and apricot. Other important crops are maize, potato, melons, chillies and onion. Fruits and vegetables are cultivated in irrigated lands, mostly in kharif season. Various fodder are cultivated throughout the year in irrigated as well as non-irrigated areas.

The time series data on average yields and total production show that the total yield of agricultural as well as horticultural produce – especially of fruits, wheat, tobacco, vegetables, onion, melons, barley and potato – has increased over the years. However, the average yield figures are more or less stable throughout these years.

Men are the visible agricultural workers in Killa Saifullah. Women take part in agriculture-related activities inside the household boundaries. Land owners themselves till the land and tenants are hired only if the size of the holding is large. Although mechanisation, like the use of tractors, threshers and tubewells, is increasing, most of the farming is still performed using indigenous methods. For instance, bullocks are used for inter-cropping in orchards.

The organisation of production has changed considerably due to the shift from staple food crops to orchards and vegetables, and because of the mechanisation. Presently the farmers hire tractors for cultivation and employ labourers in peak seasons only. The orchards’ produce is usually sold to a contractor three to four months before the harvest season, the contractor then takes care of picking, packing, etc. Therefore, crop-sharing tenants are employed by a small number of large landowners only. All the farmers in the area use tractors for cultivation. Bullocks are not used for farming in the area anymore. The tractor hire rate is rupees 70 per hour for ploughing. Thrashing is done mostly with tractors. In some areas thrashers from other areas come in the wheat harvest season.

Flood irrigation is another major source of irrigation. In flood irrigation, rain-water is collected in the fields by embankment of fields against its flow. This provides enough water for cultivation of crops like wheat, jowar and barley. The Agricultural Statistics of Balochistan 1994-95 show a majority (59.4%) of the cultivated area as irrigated land. Here it is necessary to clarify a misunderstanding: open surface wells with diesel pumps are often also called tubewells. The government has assisted water management in collaboration with the Japanese government and the World Bank under the On Farm Water Management Project (88% share by the foreign donors and 12% by GoB). The project has constructed lined water channels, to avoid wastage of water during irrigation, and water tanks (of 40,000 gallons capacity) for collection of water. The project has completed its third phase in December 1996. The first phase of the project was not implemented in Balochistan. In its second phase (1988-91), the project funded all the construction costs for water tanks; farmers were asked to share 25 percent of the total cost for water channels while the remaining (75%) was paid by the project. In the third phase, farmers were facilitated by giving them the opportunity to pay their share in instalments (40% advance, 60% in instalments).

The Irrigation Department has constructed 16 delay action dams at Shin Shob, Dize Kach, Kan Mehterzai, Gatti, Tore Skhar, Mandak, Surtal, Sangar, Inder Base, Kajeer, Kafer Toi, Behana, Ghunda Mana, Warsak, Aghbergi and Kashkalwai. A storage cum delay action dam has been constructed at Mullazai and another storage dam at Murgha Bakalzai. These dams are built basically with the purpose of water recharging of the land. The total capacity of these 18 dams is 3,094.47 acre feet, each ranging from 18 to 591 acre feet.

The major agricultural machinery being used in the district are tractors, threshers and tubewells. There has been a consistent increase in the number of privately owned agricultural machines, specially tubewells (see Annex 6). The farmers in Killa Saifullah district seem considerate about increased mechanisation of agriculture as they are buying agricultural machinery, specially tractors and tubewells. Moreover, they are using threshers – either owned by themselves or the hired ones – whenever needed. The Agriculture Department provides bulldozers at the rate of rupees 700 per hour for levelling of agricultural lands and construction of embankments. In a period of 5 years (1991-96) the total use of the department’s bulldozers was 195,986 hours through which the Department earned an amount of rupees 137,190,200. For the year 1996-97, the estimated use of bulldozers in Killa Saifullah district is 46,000 hours which will earn an amount of 32.2 million rupees.

A total of 445.35 tonnes of chemical fertilisers, Urea, Nitro Phos, Ammonium Sulphate, DAP, SSP, SOP. and NPK, were used in Killa Saifullah district in 1994-95. There is no consistency in data on fertiliser usage (see Annex 6) which may be caused by unreliable statistics.

Pesticides are used for fruits, vegetables and wheat through ground sprays. Sometimes seed is also treated with pesticides. In 1994-95, 450 kilograms of pesticides were used in the whole district, an area of 520 hectares was ground-sprayed and 242 hectares was

mechanically treated while rodent control was applied to 350 hectares. Supplies are made through the Department of Agriculture and small dealers in the private sector. There are Agro Input Shops – established with the help of Balochistan Rural Support Programme – in Muslim Bagh, Nasai and Murgha Faqirzai.

Fruits and vegetables are the only marketable agricultural produce while wheat and other grains fulfil the local needs. Tomato, apple, almond, apricot and chillies are exported to the Punjab and NWFP. Although marketing to Punjab and NWFP suits the local farmers better, it sometimes produces losses to them. Once the goods have been delivered in the markets of Punjab and NWFP, the farmer loses control over prices. The rate for the goods is fixed by the market. Sometimes the farmer has to accept a price which is below his expenses. Agricultural as well as horticultural produce is sold on farm, where a middle man buys the goods and further sells it in the markets. In case of orchards, the middleman buys the produce of orchard three or four months prior to the time of harvest; he becomes responsible for safety, care and marketing of the produce.

There are no fixed prices of agricultural products. Official rates are totally invalid in Killa Saifullah district. On average, fruits and tomato have the highest prices.

Except fruits and some vegetables, all of the agricultural produce is used domestically at local level. Prices of the agricultural as well as horticultural produce are unstable, hence, unable to guarantee economic prosperity of the farmer. Hardly any data are available to calculate the level of income of the farmer households in reference to agriculture, but based on the total volume of the various produces and the Quetta wholesale prices as indicated in the Agricultural Statistics of 1994 - 1995, the per capita income from agriculture is estimated at Rs. 12,100 for the year 1995, which for the most part is dependent upon the production of tomato, almond and apples (see Annex 6).

The extension service of the Department of Agriculture is providing assistance to farmers through dissemination of technical know-how and information regarding agriculture/horticulture. The Department is also responsible for the implementation of the On Farm Water Management Project. In 1960, the Department acquired about 11 hectares of land in the Mustafa Karez area for development of an agricultural farm but due to disputes over a water channel it could not be cultivated. The Department has developed another model agricultural farm at Nasai on an area of about 10 hectares, selling seedlings of varieties of fruits and vegetables to farmers. The Trickle Irrigation Project has installed a trickle irrigation system at the Nasai model farm. There are a few demonstration plots for various crops, basically under private ownership. In 1994-95, under departmental arrangements, a total of 520 hectares was sprayed to protect plants from various insects while 350 hectares of land were treated for rodent and weed control. Store fumigation was done on 300 cubic metres. Arial spray has been proposed for the year 1997-98 but not confirmed yet. The Department sells seeds and fertilisers to the farmers at prices fixed by the government. However, spray machinery is sold at 30 percent subsidised rates. There seems to be very little co-ordination between research activities by the federal government and the knowledge dissemination process by the provincial government through the Department of Agriculture.

The Balochistan government, NGOs and private sector are the main partners providing the support structure to agricultural sectors. Federal government is also involved to some extent. The Japanese government and the World Bank have provided assistance to the farmers in Killa Saifullah district through the On Farm Water Management Project.

The farmers in Killa Saifullah district have followed an innovative approach, specially in case of orchards. The agriculture, specially the horticulture, sector has developed significantly over the period of last ten years but the government statistics on area under cultivation and cropping pattern do not present the real picture of this development. The farmers have followed the self-help approach under the guidance of the Balochistan Rural Support Programme. The Agricultural Development Bank has also played a commendable role in agricultural development by lending money to the farmers. Mechanisation is on the increase and more and more land is being exploited for agricultural development.

Women are involved in allied agricultural activities. As this is done inside the houses it is invisible. However, women participation in development activities is to some extent being ensured through the Women Organisations under the Balochistan Rural Support Programme. Necessary action requires collective efforts from both government and NGOs. One basic requirement for better planning is collection of gender specific data on agricultural activities. This can ultimately result in improved opportunities for men and women in development of agriculture.

The supply of electricity has facilitated the use of tubewells which in turn has increased irrigation. At present the WAPDA has adopted a policy to disconnect the electricity in a feeder area where more than 20 percent of the consumers are defaulters. Although this method has improved the revenue collection, sometimes even those who have paid their dues are deprived of electricity. There should be some more justifiable procedure for dealing with defaulters so that law abiding farmers should not be punished.