ASSIGNMENT

Submitted by: Abdul Rehman

Regd. No: 2016-ag-6462

Degree: MSc (Hons) Agronomy

Semester: 2nd

Course code: C.Phy-707

Course Title: Physiology of Drought

Submitted to: Dr. Saddam Hussain

University of Agriculture
Faisalabad
 Challenges for Dryland Farming in Pakistan

1. Overview

Pakistan is a predominately an arid to semi-arid country of about 140 Mn people,

and has 22 Mha of cultivated area, about 5 Mha of which is rainfed and the rest irrigated;
irrigated agriculture being predominant. Dryland agriculture is synonymous with rainfed (barani)
conditions, where land holdings are small and often fragmented. Dryland rainfall (125–1000
mm) is bimodal, mainly (~60%) monsoonal and highly erratic. Rainfed areas are subhumid
(>500 mm), semi-arid (300–500 mm), and arid (<300 mm) with variable constraints and
management requirements. As about 70% of the geographical area receives ≤250 mm, and more
than 80% receives ≤ 375 mm, the whole country is more or less arid to semi-arid. Dryland crops
include wheat (Triticum spp.), chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.)
Moench], millet (Panicum miliaceum L.), barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), maize (Zea mays L.),
lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.), peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.), rapeseed- mustard (Brassica spp.),
and guar seed [Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub.].

A dominant fraction of Pakistan’s drylands is rangelands, which, despite being

overgrazed, sustain a significant livestock population. Dryland soil and crop management
practices are mostly primitive, coupled with major problems of moisture stress and/or
uncertainty, credit scarcity,mm soil erosion, and nutrient depletion. Pakistan’s dryland
agriculture is a high-risk, low-input enterprise for resource-poor farmers, who frequently use
poor quality seed, inadequate and imbalanced fertilizers, and poor crop management practices.
Consequently, crop yields are much below their demonstrated achievable potentials. Remedial
measures for improving crop productivity include effective rainwater harvesting, land
consolidation, improved credit facilities, better soil and water conservation, use of good quality
seed, balanced nutrient management, and weed control.

2. Introduction:

The most obvious and major cause of low dryland productivity is not only the
inadequate and/or erratic precipitation, but also its season-to-season and yearto- year variation.
Other factors include poor moisture conservation, small and/or fragmented land holdings, scarce
capital and labor, and primitive methods of cultivation (i.e., cultivation of low-yielding local
varieties, inadequate fertilizer use, poor weeding, and minimal mechanization). Cropping
intensity is low, more so in drier areas, with large areas left fallow for the whole year. Major
challenges of rainfed agriculture involve reliable rainfall forecast, improved water harvesting,
moisture conservation and utilization, adoption of drought-tolerant, high-yielding varieties,
efficient use of the expensive farm inputs, especially fertilizers, and better range management
and cropping systems. As irrigated agriculture is the driving force in Pakistan’s economy, largely
because of assured moisture supply and better management, including agrochemical inputs, its
output per unit area of land is much higher than that of rainfed agriculture. It is thus of interest to
compare soil properties between irrigated and rainfed conditions (Table 22–3), some differences
being due to the influence of management and inputs while others are to some extent inherent.
Therefore, irrigated wheat-cotton land, by comparison with the rainfed Potohar plateau, tended to
have higher organic matter, and a wider range of available P, extractable K, AB-DTPAZn, and
soluble B. Irrigated soils on average tended to have finer texture, as typical of lowland river
valleys, and to be deeper, but to have higher pH values, which reflect salinity and possible sodic
effects.

3. Shortcomings and problems faced by rainfed agriculture

The wide diversity of climate, soils, relief, topography and anthropogenic changes
cause numerous constraints and problems, there are several other serious threats being faced by
rainfed areas. Today most rainfed areas are farmed using the old, traditional and primitive soil
and crop management practices. The major constraints are moisture stress and uncertainty, credit
scarcity, soil erosion, and nutrient depletion. Due to rain uncertainty, agriculture on the rainfed
area remains a high-risk and low-input enterprise for resource-poor farmers. Low yields on the
areas could be attributed to factors like: poor quality seed, inadequate and imbalanced fertilizers,
and poor crop management practices. Excessive losses of water as runoff, old traditional land
and water management practices and fragmented land holdings can cause low efficiency of water
use. Consequently, crop yields are much below their demonstrated achievable potentials. In
addition, inappropriate soil conservation measures, excessive cultivation of steep slopes, brief
fallow periods, and cultivation in fragile regions, shallow tillage, imbalanced fertilizer use and
irrational irrigation measures can negatively impact the productivity of land resources. The
challenges and problems faced by rainfed agricultutre are discussed in the following sections.

3.1. Water shortage, moisture stress and droughts

In rainfed agriculture, soil moisture has always been a major factor limiting crop
yields. In a majority of the rainfed areas, seldom is natural precipitation sufficient and adequately
distributed during growing season to sustain economic crop yields states that about 50% 60% of
the annual rainwater is lost through runoff, causing moisture shortage and erosion on the rainfed
areas receiving medium to high rainfall. Thus, it is necessary to store rain water to supplement
plant water requirements through rainwater harvesting moisture conservation and the
construction of small dams.

3.2. Soil erosion

In Pakistan, soil erosion caused by water and wind remains a serious problem,
significantly affecting rainfed agriculture. Over 76% of the total land mass of the country is
affected by wind and water erosion; water erosion is affecting some 36% of the area whereas
40% of the lands are suffering from wind erosion. According to Khan et al. (2012), rainfed tracts
are severely suffering from erosion due to inappropriate land uses, uncontrolled grazing and
illegal cutting of trees and associated vegetation. Irshad et al. (2007), are of the opinion that
severe soil erosion on rainfed areas and the possible factors responsible for this menace include
inappropriate land uses for growing unsuitable crops, livestock grazing without considering the
carrying capacity of rangelands and illegal indiscriminate removal of forest vegetation cover.
Approximately one billion tons of fertile soils are eroded annually, and being deposited in dams.

3.3. Soil crusting and compaction

On the rainfed areas, soil crusting remains a deleterious phenomenon causing soil
erosion and making crop husbandry and agronomic practices difficult to accomplish. Generally,
low organic matter and a high proportion of fine silt, sand and sodium in the rainfed areas result
in the formation of surface. Excessive ploughing and high intensity rains further accentuate the
problem. Soil crusting are known to reduce water infiltration and increase runoff and cause soil
erosion in rainfed areas of Pakistan.and at the same time could minimize gas exchange between
soil and atmosphere and restrict seed germination.Maintain that crust formations result in
unfavourable physical conditions, directly affect crops; reduce crop stand, plant population,
grains yields and growth.

3.4. Nutrient depletion, low fertilizer use efficiency and imbalanced fertilizer use

The soils of the rainfed areas have been cultivated for centuries and consequently
their fertility levels have declined to the extent where they adversely affect crop yields. In
addition, low input (low rates of fertilizers) agriculture is being practised by the farmers in
rainfed areas because of the high risk due to climatic uncertainties (Irshad et al. 2007). Actual
use of nitrogen for rainfed wheat is 32 kg ha− 1 as compared to the optimum use of 71 kg ha− 1.
The actual use of phosphorus is only 9 kg ha− 1 while the optimum use is 48 kg ha− 1. Actual
fertilizer use in the rainfed areas is far less than the optimum use. Crops remove more nutrients
than the nutrients returned back in the soil, causing a negative nutrient balance and making soils
of rainfed areas deficient in N, P, and K. In rainfed areas, almost 100% of agricultural soils have
been found to be nitrogen deficient. Some 90 percent of soils are Phosphorus(P) deficient while
about 20–40 percent of soils are low in Potassium(K) (Shah and Arshad, 2006). Boron, Zinc and
Iron deficiencies are prevalent in 60%, 67% 71 % and 21% 25% soils respectively.
4. Conclusion and Recomendations
Dryland crop production is confronted with both biophysical and socio-eco-
nomic constraints. The foremost obstacle hampering dryland crop productivity is low, badly
distributed, and erratic rainfall. While nothing can be done to influence rainfall, the only option
is to manage its impact so as to increase its efficiency and reduce its potential degradation
effects. Heavy monsoon showers, during hot months of July and August, are hardly beneficial
for agriculture. Rather, these heavy downpours, cause soil erosion and floods and experience
heavy evaporation losses. While rainfed crop productivity is uncertain and low, what is
encouraging is that average farmers’ yields are often 50 to 80% below the demonstrated
achievable potential, thus indicating that improvement is possible. Because of low production
efficiency and unreliable incomes, rainfed agriculture is considered a low priority enterprise. In
the absence of reliable agro-based livelihoods, local manpower is constrained to migrate for
alternate sources of income.

Pakistan is predominantly an agricultural country. Rainfed agriculture contributes

a significant share towards national agricultural production and GDP of the country. However,
due to the problems and sustainability issues associated with rainfed agriculture, crop yields are
quite low. The deteriorating situation of rainfed areas needs immediate attention of the
researchers and policy makers for devising an appropriate, sustainable and implementable
technology for the rehabilitation of these areas. In addition, a big yield gap exists between the
potential yields and yields realized at the farm level. The erosion hazard keeps on washing away
the fertile top soil at an alarming rate. Factors like: arid and dry climate and severe water deficits
make agriculture difficult to be adopted and practiced on these areas. Range and
livestock rearing businesses can be very successful on areas having limited scope for agriculture.
The problems like extreme scarcity of water, over-grazing, deforestation, and water erosion are
quite common in the rainfed areas and can be managed through the following
measures/techniques.

• Water harvsting techniques should be adopted on the mass-scale as a promising way of

collection of run-off water;

• Conservation of water by adopting latest irrigation techniques such as Sprinkler and drip
irrigation etc. should be put into the practice to use each drop of water for realizing higher crop
production;

• Present crop pattern can be replaced with the drought tolerant crops having lower water
requirements and other desirable traits as an alternate farming system.

A significant and considerable potential for development of agriculture and

livestock sectors exist in these areas. In the overall agricultural scenario, the bulk of rainfed areas
are an important and precious resource of the country, constrained with numerous problems and
issues. However, if rainfed agriculture is practiced along scientific lines and improvement
strategies are adopted, tangible and encouraging crop yields can be achieved on a sustainable
basis.
References

Rashid, Abdul & Ryan, Janine & Chaudhry, MA. (2004). Challenges and strategies of dry-land
agriculture in Pakistan.

Irshad et al., 2007. Land desertification-an emerging threat to environment and food security of
Pakistan J. Applied Sci., Vol. 7 (No. 8) (2007), pp. 1199-1205

Shah et al., 2012 Potential for investment in indigenous technologies: A case of low cost soil and
water conservation structures in rainfed Pothwar, Pakistan Pakistan J. Agric. Res., Vol. 25 (No.
2) (2012), pp. 91-103

Mirza B. Baig, Shabbir A. Shahid, Gary S. Straquadine, Making rainfed agriculture sustainable
through environmental friendly technologies in Pakistan: A review,International Soil and Water
Conservation Research, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2013,pp 36-52,