The economy of Panjgur seems partly to be dependent on remittances from abroad and partly on agriculture, mainly on the production of dates. The people from Panjgur had an opportunity to serve the Royal Oman Army as soldiers. However there are no statistics to support the importance of their remittances for the economy of Panjgur. Nowadays these migrant workers are coming back. This phenomenon has shaken the illusion of economic prosperity in Panjgur. Re-employment of the skilled workers in foreign countries may enable the district’s economy to sustain, but no data are available, whether people really get re-employed abroad, whether one start working somewhere else in Pakistan, or whether one intends to invest in Panjgur.

 This lack of data, together with the poor quality of all kind of data, makes it difficult to identify an adequate development programme for the district. All kind of examples can be given. No birth and death rates are available at the district level and population figures are just the projections of 1981 census figures, which e.g. already did not give an acceptable picture of the number of girls in the age group from 5 to 25 years. Jumps in the population figures are not explained anyway. Agricultural statistics given by local sources differ from those of the Agricultural Statistics of Balochistan. In Panjgur land is only partially settled.

 Partly because of lack of such insights, partly because of the continuous transfer of all kind of key officials, partly because of the lack of adequate funds, etc. the government seems to be unable to design the required development interventions. The local government institutions in Panjgur are not successful in delivering the assumed benefits to the people either. They are hardly involved in government development planning. But there have been examples of inefficiency and difficulties in their own collection of revenue as well. The local councils are facing severe financial crisis and they hardly have any fund for development.

 Agriculture is the main economic activity of Panjgur but the cultivated land constitutes about one percent of the total geographical area only. It means that there may be lot of potential for agricultural development if all the area potentially available for agriculture is exploited. The unavailability of irrigation water and a general avoidance of agricultural labour has resulted in a rather low level of agricultural income per capita. In this situation agriculture sector does not seem to adequately support the living of people in Panjgur, because, in 1994-95, the agricultural production value per capita was 6,200 rupees only. The only cash crop, dates, which gives about 83 percent of the agricultural income is produced in surplus, but road links are either unavailable or insufficient to supply it to the markets. To expand the area for cultivation irrigation water is required. And although the installation of tubewells is increasing, many of them are not functional, mainly due to high running costs as these are operated by diesel power. Adequate provision of electricity may help running more tubewells for agricultural purposes, but presently the electricity supply is limited to domestic and commercial purposes. Only two agricultural connections are provided for tubewells.

 Livestock may be another potential sector to develop to substantiate the economy of Panjgur. The district has the highest pasture-land per livestock unit ratio in the division but the livestock unit density is lowest among the three districts of Makran. Questions are raised, whether the expansion of cultivation of fodder and fodder trees, not only encourages the required afforestation and prevents further erosion, but may even encourage the livestock sector to expand as well. The guidance in selection of more productive species and adequate veterinary services may help the development of this sector.

 At present no significant mining and industrial activity is going on in Panjgur. The mineral potential of the district has never been explored. The indicated occurrences of salt and sulphur need to be surveyed and a detailed geological survey be conducted.

 Small enterprises do not get developed, mainly because of insufficient infrastructure. Road links are not there and electricity is available to limited areas only. One solution may be the construction of roads on Built, Operate, and Transfer (BOT) principle, but unfortunately an adequate tax-culture is non-existent in the district so there are little chances for success of such programmes.

 In reference to the already mentioned upgrading of returning migrant-workers, and in reference to the indigenous population as well, there is a need for development of human resources. Currently no vocational training institute can train local youth in the various trades. In this way youngsters are not available to fill vacancies for skilled labour locally as well as in the neighbouring countries.

Presently about 40 to 60% of the population - depending on the source of information - has access to safe drinking water through water supply schemes. Eleven other schemes are non-functional due to lack of funds. Now efforts are being directed to mobilise the community to take over these schemes and run on self-finance basis to improve the situation.

 The health status and the EPI coverage of the residents of Panjgur is unsatisfactory. In particular the unavailability of female medical personnel is a problem affecting the health of about a half of the population, the women. The population per bed and the population per doctor ratios are among the highest in the province. Even the only hospital in Panjgur is without drinking water supply. The medicine are provided according to the wish of officials sitting in the provincial headquarters and requests by the health functionaries in Panjgur are not honoured. The centralised system of medicine purchase is posing problems in the delivery of health care to the people.

 Educational opportunities are not equal for male and female students. The enrolment of boys and girls at primary level may be comparatively equal, but girls/teachers ratio is far behind that one of the boys. The effect is, that the level of education for the girls is much lower, than the level of the boys.

 At college level there is not a single female teacher and no building has been provided for the girls’ college. The result is that many girls stop getting education right after their matriculation. The inequality of educational opportunities is evinced by the fact that at primary level girl students constitute 44.4 percent of the total enrolment but this percentage decreases to 28.7 percent at middle, 24.3 percent at high and to 16.3 percent at the intermediate level. In such a restrictive society for female education it is hard to find well-educated professionals in health and education sectors.

Back to Panjgur