Most people work in agriculture than in any type of work.
Pakistan is a net exporter of food this means Pakistan exports more food then it imports.
Pakistan exports rice, cotton, fish, vegetables and fruit mainly oranges and mangoes and
imports vegetable oil, wheat and pulses.
Different Methods of Farming:
● Farming can be subsistence or commercial.
● Subsistence farms are small, and produce just enough for a family to live on and sell any
produce that is not needed. Subsistence farms also grow small crops of different types
and rear small numbers of different animals.
● Commercial farms are big and make a profit. Commercial farms usually have one main
type of livestock or crop.
What is Mechanized or Manul farming.
● These are farmers that can not afford machinery.
●
●
●
They plow fields with a plow pulled by animals.harvest crops using sickles and gather
them by hand but more and more farmers now use tractors and combine harvesters. If
they cannot afford to buy these they hire them when needed.
Most land holdings in Pakistan are small.
The machines are large and therefore can only be used on large scale farms.
Organic farming in Pakistan:
· Nearly all farmers in Pakistan use chemical pesticides and fertilizers.
· Since 1960 Pakistan’s government has provided subsidized pesticides and
fertilizers in order to increase their crops yields.
· However, more and more people are choosing foods that have not been
treated with chemicals.
· This is called Organic farming, and is not a new idea.
· In the past farmers used natural fertilizers such as manure, compost they
made for themselves and natural methods of pest control such as crop rotation.
Pakistan agriculture research council supports organic farming by providing
training, bio-fertilizers and indigenous seeds.
Sell for much higher prices and people pay for them
They are more healthy, do not pollute, protect land and use water economically.
Arable FARMING:
·
·
·
·
Arable means growing crops :)
These could be cereal crops fruit or non food crops.
Worlds main food crop is wheat which is a cereal.
Wheat is a staple in many countries. The 2 types of wheat are Vulgare
(Sharbati)
· This is used for Bread flour.
· The other type of Wheat is Durum which is used for semolina and pasta
flour.
REQUIREMENTS TO GROW WHEAT:
Wheat requires flat or gently sloping land in temperate climates. It needs plenty of water while
its growing and plenty of sunshine when its ripening. It can grow in many types of soil but does
well in loam that has plenty of humus.
Pakistan is ranked 8th for wheat production in 2015 but it is much smaller than many of the
other countries so it produces more wheat per hectare than many other countries. Wheat is
grown in every province of Pakistan. Punjab and Sindh are the main growers because they
have the most suitable climate and land, thought they do not have enough rain but they have
one of the worlds largest linked irrigation systems. Their plains also have rich soil brought by the
rivers such as Indus
Wheat is Pakistan’s main crop other than sugarcane and cotton and then rice.
They make 75% of the Pakistan crops.
Kharif(Winter) and Rabi Crops
The dates of planting and harvesting depend on the climate and whether the land is on hills,
plateaus or plains.
Kharif (Winter)
Some of the Kharif crops are rice,sugar cane, cotton, maize and millet.
Sugar cane plantations occur in Feb.
M and M for cotton : March to May
J and J for rice : June and July
July and August for Maiza.
Rice:
➔
➔
➔
➔
➔
➔
➔
➔
➔
Rice is a traditional asian crop.
90% of rice is grown and eaten in Asia.
It is the staple food for 50% of the world's population.
Staple food for 75% of the world's poor population
Grows best on flat land or terraced valley sides.
It grows in tropical regions.
Second most important crop in Pakistan.
Pakistan is 4th in world production of rice.
Most of Pakistans rice is grown in the north eastern rigions because they have more rain
the rest of the country but even here the plants need irrigation to provide enough slow
flowing water the growing season
When the plants mature they need less water and while they are ripening the field needs to be
almost dry to make harvesting easy.
Cotton:
➔
➔
➔
➔
➔
➔
➔
➔
➔
➔
➔
➔
➔
➔
➔
➔
➔
➔
➔
Cotton needs plenty of sunshine and moderate rainfall.
It requires around 250 to 1200mm per year.
Grows best in alluvial soil
Alluvial soil is soil deposited by rivers.
It can grow in the places that have some salt in the soil and can survive short droughts
so it can be grown in semi arid or arid areas,
The places that grow the most cotton are tropical and subtropical areas.
It also grows in colder places.
Cotton is the main cash crop.
Cash crop is a crop grown for sale for profit and not for the farmers own use.
Southern Punjab and central Sindh are main cotton growing regions
There is not enough rainfall here but their arid climate protects the plants from attacks by
microbes that cause disease and pests that damage them.
Irrigation provides enough water to make up for the low rainfall. The hot summer
weather 32 degrees in June is just enough for cotton to grow
Every part of this plant is useful.
Lint or fibre is used to make cotton textiles.
Fluff on the seed is used for cushion fillings, paper and plastics.
It can be purified to make margarine and salad oil.
After filtering the oil the rest of the plant can be fed for livestock.
The other leftovers are used to make soap and floor coverings.
Stalks and leaves are used as humus.
Sugar Cane
It is the second most important cash crop. It is a tropical plant that can survive short
periods of frost . It needs plenty of water in the growing season and soil that is rich in
nutrients. It is grown all over Punjab and Sindhe and Small areas of Kpk and Balochistan
which have alluvial soil.
➔ Is used for making white sugar and gur, alcohol for the medical industry and press mud.
➔ Bagasse is a waste product from sugar cane which is very usefull. It is fiber from the
cane. It is used in making paper and chipboard. Can also be used as biomass and it
helps to reduce the amount of Plastic we throw away.
Livestock farming:
➔ Live stock means animals that are kept for produce.
Cattle:
➔ Farmed in temperate climate zones. Some in tropical and subtropical regions.
Temperate climate is suitable for hardy breeds.
➔ Cattle are often left to graze on large exapnses of grassy land that is unsuitable
for growing crops. They are moved to new pastures of land after 70% of the grass
is grazed.
➔ Problems of overgrazed land:
➔ The grass becomes too short for cattle to graze.
➔ Cattle trample the soil, squeezing out air, water and nutrients so grass cannot grow and
the soil is more easily eroded by wind and water.
➔ Their hooves leave 10 cm deep holes that fill up with water and do not drain this kills
grass and makes weed grown
➔ Sheep
➔ Graze on shorter grass than cattle but need drier conditionsas wet ground
casusea for rot disease.
➔