RECLAMATION OF DEGRADED LANDS IN THE PUNJAB

By MUHAMMAD IHSAN-UR-RAHMAN KHAN

(Deputy Conservator of Forests , Punjab , Pakistan )

SUMMARY

The Punjab, a province of West Pakistan lying in the sub-tropical latitud

has a severe continental type of climate. It suffers from high natural aridity
extremes of temperatures. Excessive pressure of population on land in the re
past in the Punjab led to further desiccation, accelerated soil erosion and l
degradation.
At present various techniques are being followed to reclaim and rehabilitate
the different categories of deteriorated soils. Cultural operations aiming at soil
and water conservation are carried out to combat the menace of soil erosion.
Badly ravined lands are levelled and terraced with heavy earth-moving machinery.
Desert fringe belt receiving less than ten inches of annual rainfall is being
restocked with drought-resistant woody and forage species. Some of the barren
waste lands are being turned into irrigated forest plantations with canal water.
The saline and alkali soils are being reclaimed by flooding and growing rice with
large quantities of water.
More research is needed to further refine and improve our present reclamation
techniques and management practices for rehabilitation of degraded soils.

Description of the Area

'T'HE Punjab, one of the provinces of West Pakistan, is situated betwe

and 34° N. latitudes and 69° 30' and 75° 30' E. longitudes appro
Its total land area is about 62,987 square miles and it has a population
19,000,000 people (1951 census). The climate of the Punjab is of severe c
type, being very warm in summer and very cold in winter. It ranges f
tropical in the north-east to semi-desert and desert in the south-west. T
temperatures in June-July go well over 100° F. and the winter tempe
December- January occasionally fall below 32° F. in the plains. The aver
rainfall varies from over 40 inches in the extreme north-east to less than f
in the south-west. Most of the annual precipitation is received in July-
summer monsoon season with some winter rainfall falling during Decem
in the north-west. The five perennial rivers, viz. Indus, Jhelum, Chenab
Sutlej, originate in the Himalayas or in the trans-Himalayan region and, tra
through the Punjab plains, join together at Panjnad in the south-west P
drain into the Arabian Sea after passing through Bahawalpur State and t
of Sind. The Punjab plains have one of the largest artificial irrigation
built in the last about one century. The area irrigated from the peren
in the Punjab amounts to about 8,000,000 acres.
Except the hilly and plateau area in the north-east, the soils of the Punjab
of several thousand feet deep, rich alluvium deposited by the mighty
its tributaries. Loess soils are found in the upland districts and colluvial
hills of the Punjab. The flora of the Punjab varies with altitude and r
is sub-tropical to temperate in the north-east and gradually changes to
and desert type in the south and south-west.
Extensive and very heavy destruction of natural vegetation occurred in th
in the recent past, chiefly on account of increasing pressure of populatio
of tropical thorn forest in the plains for colonization and cultivation
irrigation and widespread fuel wood fellings during the last two world
resulted in accelerated soil erosion both by water and wind in many pa
64
 RECLAMATION OF DEGRADED LANDS IN THE PUNJAB 65

province. With canal irrigation, subsoil water level ro

province and vast tracts of good land went out of cultivation on account of
salination, alkalization and water-logging. The deleterious effects of soil erosion
and soil degradation having been realized, serious and concerted attempts were
lately made to reclaim and properly manage the degraded lands.

Types and Extent of Degraded Lands

Almost half the total land area of the Punjab may be classed as degrade
lands. The table given below classifies the land area of the Punjab into cu
land, forests and waste lands, according to the agricultural statistics for
1940-41.

CLASSIFICATION OF THE LAND AREA OF THE PUNJAB, PAKISTAN (1940-41)

Class of land in millions of acres

Total land area Waste lands Waste lands as

in millions of Cultivated
acres land Forests Uncultivated Uncultivable total land area
waste lands waste lands

10.4 6.7
37.0 18.6 1.3 I

I 17.1

Of the land area of 37 million acres, waste lan

which amounts to over 46 per cent of the total
waste lands are regarded as unfit for cultivat
uncultivated waste lands could be cultivated w
project, which is in hand now, is expected to
irrigation about one million acres of these wa
Thai are proposed to be planted as irrigated
plantations and as shelterbelts along canals, roa
waste lands not fit for cultivation are being t
Department and are being afforested by conser
Most of these uncultivated waste lands carried
felled, over-browsed and over-grazed in the p
gully and sheet erosion by water in the north-e
to severe wind erosion in the southern and western districts.
Another category of the waste lands is the saline and alkali soils in the plains
districts. Asghar (1952) estimated the area of these soils at about 4.6 million acres
which amounts to about 12.4% of the total land area. The area under water-logged
soils in the Punjab is estimated to be about 34,000 acres.
Gorrie (1946) also estimated the extent of reclaimable land in the Punjab. He
reported that about 2 million acres in the hills and upland districts need to be
terraced to check gully and sheet erosion in them. Another about 1.7 million acres
which occur in the foothills districts are classed by him as heavily ravined. The
only feasible means to reclaim the ravined land is by using heavy earth -moving
machinery. The mechanical reclamation work, on a limited scale, is under way
to reclaim these ravined lands.
The extent of desert fringe waste lands in the southern and western districts is
estimated at about 2.8 million acres. It is believed that gradual desiccation in the
south-west Punjab, on account of misuse of land, occurred in the recent past. The
desert fringe belt gets not only a very low rainfall of less than 10 inches but also the
rainfall varies considerably from year to year. The restoration of vegetation cover
66 THE EMPIRE FORESTRY REVIEW

Photo: M. I. R. Khan.

Changa Manga. Irrigated forest plantation showing Eucalyptus camaldulensis avenue a

main water channel passing through the plantation.

Photo: Fazal-ud-Din.

Pahhi Reclamation area, planted and closed to grazing, Pahhi reserved forest, West Pakistan.
 RECLAMATION OF DEGRADED LANDS IN THE PUNJAB 67

in this zone is possible only by practising intensive water an

techniques. Sears (1949) refers to a parallel case when he poin
of short grass, cactus and scrub shifted eastwards into lush p
improper land use in the south-west U.S.A.

Result of Excessive Pressure of Population on Land

Large tracts of waste lands which did not produce much except som
from scrub vegetation were colonized gradually with canal irrigatio
about one century. This was done to provide a livelihood to the teem
who moved from the old congested districts to the rich, vast and ne
districts of the province. The population of the Punjab increased at
rate of about one per cent per annum since 1900. The first perennial c
about 6000 cusecs of water was dug out in 1860. Many canals hav
excavated to provide irrigation and produce more food for the incr
lation. Besides human population, livestock population of the Punjab a
steadily since 1900. The latest statistics available show that it nu
15,000,000 head of cattle in 1948:

Oxen ... ... ... ... = 5,367,000

Buffaloes

Sheep

Goats

Camels

Horses, Donkeys and Mules ... = 686,000

Total ... - 15,281,000

The waste lands of the Punjab also suffer from the ravages of ca
the province. The nomadic graziers from Afghanistan, the N
Province and Azad Kashmir bring large hordes of sheep, goats
in the Punjab foothills and plains in winter months. They do an im
damage to the open scrub vegetation in these parts.
The obvious result of increasing pressure on land has been ex
and degradation of the waste lands. Soil erosion has occurred in
upland districts and also to some extent in the plains. There
of land which need to be suitably treated against the devasta
denudation and accelerated erosion by wind and water.
The soils in the canal irrigated districts greatly deteriorated
years on account of salination and neglect of drainage. With shallow canal
irrigation in the arid tracts of the Punjab, salts from the subsoil move up as a result
of excessive surface evaporation and accumulate in the root zone of agricultural
crops. The subsoil water table also rose in some places and produced water-logged
soils. Similar soil deterioration occurred in the Nile Valley in Egypt when deep
basin irrigation or flooding was replaced by shallow perennial irrigation for more
intensive cultivation.

Reclamation Techniques and Operations

Excessive pressure of population on land combined with injudicious manageme

practices due to carelessness or ignorance of the farmer in the past and the rigorous
climatic conditions of the Punjab resulted in deterioration and degradation of t
waste lands bearing only scrub vegetation. The various measures taken to comba
the ill effects of the carelessness in the past and the more important reclamati
techniques and suitable practices for the management of degraded soils are brief
discussed overleaf:
68 THE EMPIRE FORESTRY REVIEW

Photo: M. I. R. Khan.

Soil and water conservation

operations in hilly country.
Gully plugging and planting
in ravine beds in Murree Hills,
West Pakistan.

Mechanical reclamation of
badly ravined land, West
Pakistan.
Photo: M. /. R. Khan .
 RECLAMATION OF DEGRADED LANDS IN THE PUNJAB 69

(1) Soil and water conservation. The Punjab, lying in the arid s
of the Earth, suffers from extreme aridity especially in the south-we
The problem of aridity was accentuated by excessive and indiscrim
of the natural vegetation cover in this region. Realizing the impo
of vegetation to check erosion in the foothills, the Punjab Land P
was passed in 1900. As the work expanded, a Soil Conservation Circ
in 1939 in the Punjab Forest Department to combat the menace
all over the province. Soil and water conservation work is now on
duties of a Divisional Forest Officer in the Punjab. The people hav
themselves into voluntary Land Improvement Societies und
Co-operative Societies Act of 1912. These bodies get Government s
works and technical aid from the Forest Department.
The various soil and water conservation practices in the Punjab in
terracing, making of field embankments, check damming, provis
channels, gully plugging, general sowing and planting, shelterbelt plan
control, etc. Some of the private waste lands offered voluntarily
over temporarily by the Forest Department under the Forest Ac
being managed on behalf of the owners. The Punjab Land Preser
was considerably modified and amended in 1944 to enlarge its scop
for more active protection and conservation of eroded waste land
Some of the badly eroded areas are compulsorily acquired for prop
the Forest Department under the provisions of this Act.
Two planting campaigns, one in the spring season (February-M
other in the rainy season (July- August) are observed annually w
stumps and seedlings of forest species and forest seed are distribu
for sowing and planting on their lands.
(2) Mechanical reclamation of ravined lands. Mechanical reclamat
earth-moving machinery is a special activity of the Punjab Forest
it started in 1946 after World War II. It has been stated earlier that there are
about 1.7 million acres of waste lands in the foothills and the upland districts which
are badly ravined. It is almost impossible to reclaim such areas with human or
animal labour. Such ravined lands have been lying waste for many years and the
best way to reclaim them has been found to be by mechanical means. Some of the
bigger landlords have their own outfit of heavy earth-moving machinery which
they are using for reclamation purposes.
The cost of mechanical reclamation varies considerably. The cost of operating
different categories of caterpillar diesel tractors works out to be Rs.5/- to Rs.14/-
per machine hour in the upland districts. The arrangements for repair and supply
of the spare parts are still not very satisfactory in spite of efforts made to improve
them.
(3) Arid zone afforestation and pasturage improvement. The desert fringe belt
occupies about 2.8 million acres in the southern and western districts of the Punjab.
It is possible to afforest the 5 to 10 inches rainfall belt with Prosopis spp., Acacia
spp. and Tamarix articulai a by conserving natural rainfall. The sand dunes in the
Thai tract have been stabilized with Calligonum polygonoides , and Citrullus colo -
cynthis. Trials with some exotic species like Acacia cyanophylla and Australian
eucalypts are in progress. It would be worth while to try some more arid zone
exotic species from West Australia, northern Mexico, south-west U.S.A. and
northern Nigeria. Local arid zone species also need to be studied in greater detail
for desert fringe afforestation.
Most of the waste lands receiving less than 10 inches of annual rainfall can bear
only open scrub vegetation and generally serve as grazing grounds. These have been
over-grazed and over-browsed in the past. Pressure on them increased especially
when they were partly colonized with canal irrigation. Proper and planned manage-
ment of this natural pasturage in the form of deferred, seasonal and rotational
grazing, conservation, reseeding, etc., is essential for its rehabilitation. More needs
70 THE EMPIRE FORESTRY REVIEW

to be known about the optimum grazing inc

The nomadic graziers do a lot of damage
They come from the bordering territor
will be necessary to enhance the grazing f
the nomadic graziers from coming into th
improvement in the quality of the local c
(4) Irrigated forest plantations. With ex
the area under scrub forests of the Pun
firewood and timber in the plains with
plantation at Changa Manga was started i
ments of the North-Western Railway. Th
increased gradually and now amounts to over 200,000 acres. Of these about
100,000 acres were set aside only in 1952 in the Thai tract of the Punjab to raise
forest plantations with canal irrigation.
The irrigated plantations are generally raised in blocks of 10,000 acres each but
narrow linear plantations have also been grown along the irrigation channels. So
far, the chief species used to stock the irrigated forest plantations has been Dalbergia
sissoo. Morus alba comes in naturally as a second storey in the Sissoo crop after
some time. Other species like Acacia arabica, Prosopis spp Tamarix articulata ,
Albizzia lebbek, Zizyphus jujuba and Melia azedarach have also been partly used
to stock the irrigated forest plantations.
Enough land is available to raise forest plantations but there is only a limited
quantity of canal water. For a more economical use of canal water which is in
great demand for agriculture and forestry, it is essential that more precise information
is available about the optimum water requirements of irrigated forest crops in the
Punjab plains.
(5) Reclamation of saline , alkali and water-logged soils. The area of such lands
in the Punjab is estimated to be about 4.6 million acres. The saline and alkali
soils have been formed on account of shallow irrigations or low rainfall followed
by excessive evaporation of soil moisture. The most economical way to reclaim
these soils is by flooding during April-May and growing rice (Oryza sativa ) in June,
followed by a leguminous crop of gram (Cicer arietinum) or "Berseem" ( Trifolium
alexandrinum) in the succeeding winter. This process repeated for about three
years reclaims soils of normal permeability. More water is needed to reclaim the
saline and alkali soils than is available from the existing water supplies in our
canals. During five years, 1947-52, 110,208 acres were reclaimed giving an average
of 22,042 acres per year in the Punjab, Pakistan.
Not only are large quantities of water needed for the reclamation of saline and
alkali soils but also a suitable drainage system is essential to dispose of the saline
subsoil water. Experimental work for the drainage of the fields with tube-well
pumping, subsoil tile drains, etc., is in progress at present. In order to obtain more
water, dams and reservoirs in the hilly country seem to be necessary to harness
flood waters.
The mineral soil must not be left bare and exposed in the Punjab plains as it
leads to the rise of mineral salts to the surface of soil by high rates of evaporation.
Suitable crop rotations and cover crops along with deep irrigations seem to be
essential to keep harmful salts from appearing on the surface. Once reclaimed
the saline and alkali soils are also easy to afforest.

Concluding Remarks

The reclamation and management of different kinds of degraded la

proceeding along right lines in the Punjab but this work needs to be expand
intensified. The best solution of the ill effects of the past is to do away wi
malpractices and to follow up-to-date scientific reclamation techniques and m
ment practices. A lot of research work is still required on various aspects of
 RECLAMATION OF DEGRADED LANDS IN THE PUNJAB 71

land management to determine what is best land use und

obtaining in the Punjab. The suggestion by some workers t
Board for the Punjab seems to be a sound proposition in
land problems.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Ahmad, Y. S. 1952. Rôle of forestry in the development of Thal. Pak . Jour.

For . 2 : 32-34.
2. Asghar, A. G. 1952. The problem of salinity and alkalinity of soils and its solution.
Proc. 4th Pak. Sci. Conf., 1952. Pak. Assoc. Ad. Sci., Lahore,
Pakistan.
3. Gorrie, R. M. 1941. Land management in the Punjab foothills, v + 78 pp. Supdt.
Govt. Print. Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan.
4. do. 1946. Soil and water conservation in the Punjab, viii + 290 pp.
Supdt. Govt. Print. Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan.
5. do. 1946. Desert fringe afforestation. Ind. For. 72 : 12-15.
6. Hamid, M. A. 1952. Water supply and drainage in relation to scientific land
utilization. Proc. 4th Pak. Sci. Conf., 1952. Pak. Assoc.
Ad. Sci., Lahore, Pakistan.
7. Khan, A. A. 1946. Utilization of degraded rakhs. Ind. For. 72 : 213-225.
8. Khan, F. M. 1949. Afforestation in arid tracts. Pak. Jour. For. 1 : 74-84.
9. Khan, M. I. R. 1952. Shelterbelts problem in Thai tract of the Punjab. Proc. Punjab
For. Conf., 1949. 119-128 pp. Supdt. Govt. Print. Punjab,
Lahore, Pakistan.
10. do. 1952. Improvement and management of range (waste) lands in West
Pakistan. Proc. Sixth International Grassland Congress,
1952. Vol 1 : 491-498 pp.
11. Sears, P. B. 1949. Deserts on the march. Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd.,
London, 1949.