In Panjgur 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 while Kharif crops are sown in summer and harvested in late summer or early winter. The major Rabi crops of the district include wheat, barley, masoor, and various vegetables, in particular tomatoes. Kharif crops in Panjgur include jowar, rice, melons, vegetables, and pulses including mash and moong. Fodder is cultivated throughout the year. Fruits are produced in Kharif season. As the climate in Panjgur is cool in winter, all the fruits of cold areas are produced in the district, including almonds, pomegranates, grapes, peaches and even pistachios. Date is the major agricultural produce of the district which is exported to other parts of the country.

Agricultural labour consists predominantly of males. However women help their family by getting involved in allied activities like home-base date processing. Mostly the farming activities are performed by the land owner himself although tenants are also employed.

In Panjgur, agricultural land can be classified into irrigated and un-irrigated. Irrigation land has permanent sources of water like karezes and kaurjos. This land is mainly in the Rakhshan valley where most of the karezes and kaurjos are excavated and used for irrigation as well as for water source for household use. Un-irrigated land in Gichk, Gowargo, Parome, and Dasht-e-Shahbaz areas is either rain-fed, locally called khushkaba, or flood irrigated (sailaba). Irrigated land is predominantly used for production of fruits. Crops like wheat, jowar, barley, and rice are cultivated in un-irrigated land.

The Agriculture Department has sub-divided the net potential area available for cultivation into current fallow, net sown, area sown more than once, and culturable waste. In Panjgur, about 95 percent of the area is either not yet reported or not available for cultivation. The arable land constitutes less than 2 percent of the total area. The major reasons are scarcity of water and unavailability of agricultural labour.

Panjgur is not a settled area. Land settlement was planned a few years ago but has not been completed. In this situation cadastrial maps and records of land settlement or land ownership are not available. This, sometimes, results in conflicts over land ownership. In Panjgur, land ownership is of two types. In irrigated areas communal ownership of land exists, while individual ownership is predominant in un-irrigated areas. The reason is an economic one. Un-irrigated areas are flood irrigated for most parts, therefore financial inputs for irrigation are minimal. Irrigated lands are irrigated by karezes or kaurjos which require considerable amounts of money or manpower for excavation. Usually a group of farmers pools its financial or human resources for excavation of karezes or kaurjos. Usually the yield produced from land irrigated by communal source of irrigation is distributed on equity basis.

According to the 1990 Census of Agriculture, the majority (64.8%) of the land-holdings sized below 5 hectares. Only 8.9 percent of the farms were larger than 20 hectares. In Kohbun area tubewell irrigation was adopted about a decade ago. Usually the area irrigated by one tubewell is around 10 to 12 hectares. In this area tubewells are mostly owned and operated by joint families. However, there are a fair number of tubewells which are owned by individual households.

Tenancy is not very much common as farm sizes are small and most of the farmers themselves work on their fields. Some large land and orchard owners employ tenants, locally called shareeks. Tenancy contracts are not formal and verbal understanding is considered enough. Mouroosi (inherited) tenancy is not practised in the district and it is usually the tenant, rather than the land owner, who discontinues the contract. Sometimes tenants make deals, at the same time, with more than one land owner, mainly due to scarcity of agricultural labour. In case of irrigated land, the tenant gets one third of the total yield while in un-irrigated land the tenant gets one fourth share in the yield. In both cases all the inputs are provided by the land owner. Another form of tenancy is also practised which is locally called lathbandi. In this type of tenancy the tenant contributes all the inputs and he retains three fourth of the total yield. If he provides half of the inputs then he gets half share of the total yield.

Agricultural statistics are collected primarily by a Field Assistant posted in every union council. An Agriculture Officer at district level is responsible to compile district data and to send it to Statistics Wing of the Agriculture Department through the Assistant Director, Agriculture Extension. The Directorate General of Agriculture Department compiles and publishes this data in the form of Agriculture Statistics of Balochistan, every year.

On counter-check it was found that there are discrepancies in data sent by the Agriculture Officer, Panjgur and published by the Agriculture Department. For example, the net sown area was given 17,297 hectares in Agricultural Statistics 1994-95 while the report sent by the Extra Assistant Director, Agriculture Extension shows it as 5,807 hectares, about three times less. Same is the case with other statistics. In a situation like this no satisfactory development planning can be done.

After dates, wheat is the major agricultural produce of the area, although in terms of economic value tomatoes, pomegranate and fodder are of more importance. It is cultivated mostly in un-irrigated areas, flood irrigated for the most part, like Gichk, Parome, Balgattar, Gowargo and Dasht-e-Shahbaz. Although average per hectare yield of wheat in Panjgur (1,391 kg/Ha.) is not at par with the average yield of wheat for the province of Balochistan (2,320 kg/Ha.), it fulfils the local needs to a great extent. Barley is another crop cultivated mostly in khushkaba lands. According to local sources, once rice has been a good crop in Panjgur district but now the area under rice cultivation has reduced significantly, mainly due to less rainfall and unavailability of alternate irrigation sources. Different vegetables and fodder are cultivated throughout the year in irrigated as well as un-irrigated areas.

Date, the major produce among fruits, is most frequently planted on irrigated land. About 40 types of date are produced in the district, of which mozawati, kahrba, alini, rabai, jawansor, dandari, sabzo and kalut are most popular. Dates require continuos irrigation and more care. The process of impregnation is unique in case of dates. Pollens from male date tree are sprinkled on female date tree manually. This requires more manpower as compared to other horticultural activities.

The time series data on average yields and total production show an inconsistent trend. Although total production has increased over the years, specially of fruits, average yield is unpredictable. A significant increase (from 2,577 tonnes to 133,629 tonnes) has been observed in the total production of fruits during the years 1993-95 whilst the area under cultivation has also increased considerably (from 2,235 Ha. to 13,890 Ha.; about 300%). However, the average agricultural yield has decreased slightly in the same period. In 1993-94, area under wheat cultivation was decreased to half of the previous years and the same was the case with total production of wheat in Panjgur (see Annex 6 for detailed statistics). The main reason behind this fluctuating trend seems to be the quality of the statistics. Wheat is produced in un-irrigated areas which are flood irrigated for the most part. Less rainfall may be a reason for less area under wheat cultivation in 1994-95 (1,740 Ha.) as compared with 2,180 hectares in 1992-93.

Males are the visible agricultural workers in Panjgur. Females take part in agriculture- allied activities inside the household boundaries. For example dates are dried by women at household level. Land owners themselves till the land and tenants are not easily available to be contracted. Although mechanisation, like use of tractors and threshers, is increasing, still most of the farming is performed through indigenous methods, such as bullocks used for ploughing in orchards (inter-cropping).

According to the Agricultural Statistics 1994-95, the major source of irrigation in Panjgur is kaurjo, a small water channel taken to fields from a pit dug in bed of a perennial flow to obtain under surface water. Other significant sources are tubewells, operated by diesel, and open surface wells from where water is taken out for irrigation with the help of diesel pumps. A small proportion of land is irrigated with karezes and springs etc. while the remaining is khushkaba or sailaba land dependent on rainfall. The total number of tubewells has increased in khushkaba lands over the past years but the numbers of functional tubewells has decreased, mainly due to increase in diesel price.

In irrigated areas, the major source of irrigation is karez and then kaurjo. In 1993, it was estimated that there were 117 active karezes and 30 kaurjos in Panjgur district being used for irrigation. The Agricultural Statistics 1994-95 claim that about a third (31.1%) of the cultivated land in the district is being irrigated through kaurjos and only 300 hectares (1.0%) out of the total cultivated land is being irrigated by karezes. This also supports the assumption that agricultural statistics are not totally reliable.

Usually karezes are excavated and maintained on communal basis. Minor cleaning is done by farmers themselves while Afghan labour is hired for excavation and major cleaning of karezes. The same is the case with kaurjos. As the quantity of water obtained through kaurjo decreases, the length of pit in the bed of semi-perennial flow is increased to obtain more water. The water of karez is divided according to the share of inputs on equity basis. Division of water is done in terms of time. The irrigation time from sunrise to sunset or from sunset to sunrise is called hangãm while small fraction of time is called tãs. The person who is responsible for maintenance of karez and division of water is called sarishta. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in late 1980’s, tried to improve the karez system by fixing infiltration galleries in karezes to increase the quantity of water but it failed because cleaning of karezes became a difficult task. Although government has assisted farmers in tubewell installation through bank loans from the Agricultural Development Bank of Pakistan and through technical expertise, people in karez irrigated areas are very much reluctant to start tubewells. The main reason for this reluctance is that tubewells will result in lowering of the water table and karezes will dry up. Operation and maintenance costs of diesel powered tubewell are far higher than that of karezes. Therefore nobody wants to switch from a cheaper method to a more expensive one.

In flood irrigation, rain-water is harvested into the fields by embankment. This provides enough water for cultivation of crops like wheat and barley. Almost all the tubewells are diesel powered. These are used for irrigation when diesel, illegally imported from Iran, is cheap. Otherwise, tubewells are not operated and farmers wait for rainfall. It is necessary to clarify a misunderstanding: often open surface wells with diesel pumps are also called tubewells. In Panjgur there are 94 such open surface wells being used for irrigation. The government has assisted water management in collaboration with the World Bank under the On Farm Water Management Project (88% share by the WB 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 afforded all the construction costs for water tanks but farmers were asked to share 25 percent of the total costs 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 project has completed construction work of 34 water tanks and 27 water channels in its third phase.

The major agricultural machinery being used in the district includes tractors, threshers, and tubewells. There has been a consistent increase in the number of privately owned agricultural machines but it is not documented anywhere. The farmers in Panjgur seem considerate about increased mechanisation of agriculture as they buy agricultural machinery, specially tractors and tubewells. The Agricultural Engineering Department provides bulldozers at the rate of 300 rupees per hour for levelling of agricultural lands and construction of embankments.

In 1994-95, a very small quantity (half a tonne) of chemical fertilisers, DAP and NPK, were used in Panjgur district in the month of March as indicated in the Agricultural Statistics. There is no consistent pattern of fertiliser usage (see Annex 6). The farmers often use manure as fertiliser. Pesticides are used for horticulture, vegetables, melons, and fodder through ground sprays. Sometimes wheat seed is also treated with pesticides. In 1994-95, 720 kilograms of pesticides were used in the whole district. Supplies are made through small dealers in the private sector.

Lack of adequate road connections has incapacitated the farmers to bring their yield to the local market. Most of the produce is locally consumed. Only dates are exported to other parts of the country like Karachi, Quetta, and Sukkur. Vegetables are exported just to the neighbouring districts, Kech and Awaran. Agricultural as well as horticultural produce is sold on farm where a middle man buys the goods and further sells it in the markets. The Lipton company has been a buyer of dates from Panjgur, for processing and packing. Now this company has diverted its attention to other date producing areas, may be due to logistical problems in Panjgur.

There are no fixed prices of agricultural products. Official rates are totally invalid in Panjgur. Price of dates depends upon crop situation in other date producing areas of the country. If there is a good crop of dates in other areas, price of dates will be low in Panjgur and vice versa. Grain crops just meet the local needs therefore organisations like PASCO are not active in the district.

As most of the agricultural produce is used domestically at local level, agriculture is not the significant source of cash income. The average yield of cash crops like rice and wheat is low, hence farmers are unable to raise their economic status through agriculture. However, agriculture fulfils their nutritional needs to some extent. The date producers are relatively at advantageous position as date is a profitable crop but this also depends upon price of dates in other districts. 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 Rs. 6,200 per capita for the year 1995. See annex 6.

The Department of Agriculture Extension is providing assistance to farmers through dissemination of technical know-how and information regarding agriculture/horticulture. The department is also responsible for implementation of the On Farm Water Management Project. To date, no research farm has been established in Panjgur. However, there are 18 demonstration plots for different crops and 18 new demonstration plots are under consideration. In 1995-96, the department has carried out plant protection work on 1881 hectares of land. The department has one seed and fertilisers depot at Panjgur from where seed and fertilisers are provided to the farmers at prices fixed by the government. There seems 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 Extension. Another problem is lack of a viable process of communication between farmers and the department. It was told that the department often makes advice to the farmers but they rarely care about advice. One example is of date farming. In order to maximise the use of irrigated land, farmers cultivate date trees very closely to each other whilst minimum recommended distance between two date trees is 6 metres. Moreover the farmers grow wheat or vegetables under these trees. Less distance between trees results in less fluorosynthesis and mixed crops result in increased pests and diseases.

The Balochistan government and private sector are the main partners providing support structure to the agricultural sectors. The federal government is also involved to some extent.

The agricultural potential is meagre in Panjgur. A lot of area is still open for exploitation. The agricultural data from district level are not consistent with those of the Agricultural Statistics of Balochistan.

Traditional crops are sown and innovative farming is non-existent in Panjgur. Although there is a potential for date processing industry, people are reluctant to invest in this new sector. One reason is a failed experience of date processing factory in Turbat and the other is an atmosphere of non-co-operation and lack of trust towards each other. For one reason or the other, people do not want to invest their money in partnerships.

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