The Islamic Republic of Pakistan was formed on 14 August 1947. It has a geographical area of 79.61 million hectares. About 20 million ha. are under crop cultivation and approximately 3.5 million ha. are forest area1.
Uplands represent 40 percent of Pakistan's land base and are the key to the country's development and resource security2. In the upland regions the country's main water sources originate, and it is here where most animals graze, the majority of forests are found and where about 25 per cent of the population lives. The uplands are the main source of water for extensive irrigation systems throughout the country and hydro-electric power plants provide about 70 per cent of the total electric power generated.
During the eighth five year plan period (1993-1997), the government of Pakistan (GOP) decided to adopt a more balanced approach to the development of remote areas. The Pakistan component of the Inter-regional project was initiated based on formal recognition of the importance of watershed management.
Pakistan is divided into four provinces. The project site is located in the province of Balochistan which is the largest province and covers about 44 per cent of Pakistan or 34.72 million ha. It is characterized as arid and semi-arid with a wide range of interrelated desert ecosystems that vary from one another, mainly as a function of precipitation, temperature and altitude.
The pattern of land use in much of semi-arid upland Balochistan has a traditional emphasis on livestock, supplemented, where possible, by subsistence cropping. Rangelands are typically utilized by communal groups or extended families.
Water remains the principal constraint for agricultural land use in upland Balochistan. Several systems have evolved for capturing water for agricultural use. One traditional strategy has been the construction of elaborate underground water channel systems (karez) that tap and direct sub-surface groundwater to areas of cultivation. Sailaba are lands irrigated by seasonal floodwater and ephemeral streams. Khushkaba land depends upon direct rainfall or localized run-off from a very small catchment area.
Since the 1960s, the number of power-driven pumps and tubewells has rapidly increased, combined with a change in production emphasis from food crops to high water demanding (and highly profitable) horticultural cash crops (especially apples), resulting in rapidly declining aquifers.The general trend is leading to a progressive settlement and concentration of populations in the fertile, irrigated but limited valley bottom areas of watersheds. This is leading to unsustainable high levels of ground-water extraction for irrigation and to an increasing degradation of the vegetative cover of the surrounding mountains and dry and stony rangelands,caused by over-grazing both by local flocks and by transhumant herders.
Kanak valley was selected as the project site in late 1991, and Noza sub-watershed was subsequently selected for the implementation of the first project phase which began in December 1992.
Kanak valley is located in Mastung District some 45 Km South-West of the city of Quetta. (see map, pg. 4) The entire valley measures about 40,000 ha with a population estimated at 20,000 people living in 40 villages. Altitudes range from about 1,600 to 2,500 meters from south to north.
Specific data for Kanak valley are mostly based on estimates or on information obtained during the PRA, carried out at the beginning of 1993. The last national census in Pakistan was held in 1981.
Kanak valley is a Brahui/Baloch tribal area. Within Kanak Valley, Noza sub-watershed covers an area of 8,100 ha with a population of 3,200 people. The lands these people cultivate were given by the Khan of Kalat in the 18th century to tribes that had supplied soldiers, as a compensation for killed relatives. Some of these lands were tax free, while in others a part of the product had to be paid to the Khan, to feed his warriors. Generally, the best land was given to the tribes who fought best. Some tribes started to cultivate the lands themselves, others had the land cultivated by tenants. Tenant rights of cultivation were hereditary.
The more recent villages were gradually established in the second half of this century, when transhumant people started to settle. These groups used to spend the summer-time on or close to the fan areas, where they grazed their livestock and practiced rainfed agriculture of subsistence-crops. In the late autumn, when fodder for the animals became scarce, they moved with their flocks to lower, warmer parts of Balochistan (Sibi, Kacchi, i.a.), to feed the animals, to work the fields and to escape the winter cold.
The degradation of pastures in the lower areas forced many people to reduce their herds, or to sell them in order to buy land, shifting to rainfed or to irrigated agriculture. However, the steady drop of the water-table forced most people to revert to rainfed agriculture, but for many the land produces too little and they work as daily wage labourers or try to obtain a government job in Quetta.In most cases, orchards are under "modern" private ownership and rainfed agriculture is under "traditional" communal ownership, while for the irrigated lands both traditional and modern private ownership can be found.
Some of the larger villages have basic services such as schools, telephones and a post office. The area is connected by roads to other parts of the country, as well as with Iran and Afghanistan. Access to the area is guaranteed by the Regional Cooperation for Development highway connecting Quetta to Karachi and by all-season gravel roads connecting all major villages.
The Quetta-Karachi and Quetta-Iran border railway lines cut across the southern part of the valley where the Dringar railway station is located.(see map, pg.5). Local buses provide daily transport to and from Quetta and Mastung cities.
Aside from the elders, to whom respect is due and who have special duties on certain occasions, few other specialized positions or roles exist. A common feeling of economic deprivation and marginalization is strongly felt and is voiced by both old and young man regardless of education. Most people in the communities attach a great value to education, and aspire to an integration into the outside modern world as long as traditions are also kept alive.
Agro-Economic Aspects
Agriculture is the main economic activity in the project area. The majority of farmers grow wheat for food security. Other important crops, according to the area under cultivation are: barley, onions, potato and vegetable. Wheat, cumin and barley are the main winter crops. Onion, potato, and other vegetables are the most important summer ones.
Planting/ Harvesting
Growing wheat and barley in this environment is a high-risk and low return enterprise. The practice of growing wheat as a dual purpose crop, providing both fodder for animals, and if conditions are favourable, grains for human consumption, increases the chances of getting some return.
The most productive enterprises in the project area are irrigated orchards. Only large and medium farmers have orchards, but the trend of growing fruit trees is increasing rapidly. The remarkable growth in orchard production is also related to the Afghan refugee phenomenon which made available the cheap and abundant labour required for excavation work, for tube-well installation and for reclaiming and preparing lands for planting.
The main fruit trees are apple (golden delicious, red delicious, mushhadi, amir and kashmiri), peach, plum and apricot. Apple is the most common fruit and is harvested from September to November and marketed in Quetta and Karachi or sold to local contractors.
Vegetables and lucerne are grown as intercrops in newly established orchards. Fodder such as alfa-alfa is grown in the orchards where flood irrigation is practiced and sufficient water is available.
The main livestock raised in the valley are sheep and goats which form 88% of the total. The remainder includes poultry, rabbits and camels.
The mobility of women is restricted in Brahui culture. Brahui women observe purdah which literally translates as "curtain" from the Urdu language. Purdah is the segregation of women. Keeping them behind the curtain for their own protection and to ensure that family honour is maintained. This means that women live in compounds behind mud walls where they are virtually hidden from view. Women must avoid being seen by strangers, especially strange men. Access to compounds is restricted and a woman's mobility outside the compound is controlled by her husband and male relatives.
Nevertheless, most women in the project area do field work. During the productive season from March through mid-November, a woman may spend as much as sixty (60) per cent of her time in her productive gender role. A typical day for a Brahui farmer's wife is seventeen hours long. Her work is sheer drudgery because the labour she performs is merely repetitive and requires no decision making as to how land and other resources are to be utilized. Women are responsible for transplanting, weeding and harvesting. Official statistics (of which there are very few since the last national census was conducted in 1981) grossly under estimate the contribution of women to the agricultural GDP in rural areas of Pakistan.
In addition to field work, women collect fuel and water. They are responsible for storing and managing grain. Almost 90% of rural families store food grains in jute bags. The remaining 10% use mud-bins and wool bags. The absence of rodent and pest control measures may cause storage losses of up to 20%.
Besides food and feed grain storage and management, the Kanak valley women also dry vegetables, mainly tomatoes and fruits such as grapes during sunny fall days and store these products for family consumption in winter months.
A large majority of Kanak valley women are engaged in poultry and livestock production. This includes health care, shed cleaning, feeding care of pregnant and lactating animals, milk processing and preparation of milk products such as butter oil (ghee) and butter milk (lassi). Collection and processing of farm manure, hay and silage making are also the responsibility of women, although most training in improved silage making offered by the Livestock Department is geared to men. Very few government departments or even projects collect gender disaggregated data.
Handicrafts like making woolen mats, knitting and embroidery are also a source of income for women, particularly during the winter months when they are less involved in agriculture.
1 Background material qleaned from project reports. Final report of the initial participatory assessment planning phase by Marco Miagostovich. Feb. 1993.
2 Upland degraded watershed component of Forestry Sector Master Plan for Pakistan. FAO Technical Report FO:PAK/88/081, 1991.
