Factors affecting production and irrigation

Geography of Pakistan · Agricultural development. The idea in plain words, the rules to remember, the mistake to avoid and a worked example, written and checked by Mega Lecture.

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The idea

Farm output depends on natural factors (relief, climate, soil, pests) and human factors (capital, labour, farm size, methods). Pakistan has two crop seasons. Kharif crops grow in the hot, wet summer. Rabi crops grow in the cool, drier winter.

Rainfall is low over most of the country, so farming relies on irrigation. Dams store water, barrages raise the river level to feed canals all year, and link canals move water from the western rivers to the eastern ones.

Too much canal water causes waterlogging and salinity: the water table rises, water evaporates at the surface and salt is left behind. The government has acted through land reforms, cheap loans, machinery and improved seeds.

Rules to remember

Kharif: sown about April to June, harvested about October to December (rice, cotton, maize, millet).
Rabi: sown about October to December, harvested about April to May (wheat, gram, barley, oilseeds).
Barani farming depends on rainfall alone (for example the Potwar Plateau); yields are low and uncertain.
Inundation canal flows only when the river is high in summer; perennial canal flows all year from a barrage or dam.
Karez: underground tunnel bringing groundwater from the foot of hills (Balochistan). Persian wheel: animal turns a wheel with a chain of pots. Tubewell: pump lifts groundwater whenever needed.
Canal water path: barrage → main canal → distributary → watercourse → field.
Cures for waterlogging and salinity: line canals, pump with tubewells (SCARP), dig drains, plant eucalyptus, then flush salts away. Land reforms of 1959 and 1972 put limits on the size of landholdings.

Common mistake

Students match the seasons the wrong way round. Kharif is the summer crop season and rabi is the winter one: remember wheat is rabi, rice is kharif.

Worked example

Before a barrage was built, farmers beside the lower Indus used inundation canals and grew little wheat. After the barrage they grew wheat every year. Why?

Wheat is a rabi crop, so it needs water in winter.
Inundation canals fill only in summer, when the river is high, so they are dry in winter.
A barrage raises the level of the river so that water enters the canals in every season.
The canals become perennial and can water the wheat through the winter.

Answer: The barrage gave perennial canals, so irrigation water was available for rabi crops such as wheat.

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