Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T20:43:31.755Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Soil salinity, a major constraint to irrigated agriculture in the Punjab region of Pakistan: Contributing factors and strategies for amelioration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2009

Andrew P. Davidson
Andrew P. Davidson
Affiliation:
Lecturer, School of Sociology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia (a.davidson@unsw.edu.au).
Get access

Abstract

Salinity is widely perceived to have severe effects on farmers in Pakistan. However, to date there is little direct evidence on how salinity specifically affects farm operations and the patterns of agricultural activity, and how farmers seek to overcome the effects of salinity. The purpose of this study was to develop an understanding of the causes of soil salinity and to consider possible remedial actions whereby farmers might reduce its adverse effects. Correlation analysis was used to determine whether farmers responded to soil salinity in identifiable patterns of socioeconomic activity and behavior. Throughout these analyses, it was assumed that salinity was the primary force driving the farming systems. Soil salinity was found to pose real constraints to agricultural productivity and the economic livelihoods of Pakistani farmers. With few notable exceptions, no discernible patterns in responses to soil salinity have emerged. Aside from the more traditional and costly methods for dealing with the problem, no new technologies to combat soil salinity have been widely disseminated, due to socioeconomic limitations of most farmers and general lack of awareness. Yet, the data indicate that in order to increase agricultural productivity, alternative technologies are needed, such as trees and shrubs to lower the water table, more effective water management to prevent waterlogging, and salt-tolerant and -resistant strains of edible crops. Without these measures, it is likely the situation will worsen in the coming years.

Keywords

agroforestryalternative cropsbioremediationproduction strategieswaterlogging
Type
Articles
Information
American Journal of Alternative Agriculture , Volume 15 , Issue 4 , December 2000 , pp. 154 - 159
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Ahmad, M. 1999. A Comparative Analysis of the Effectiveness of Agricultural Extension Work by Public and Private Sectors in Punjab, Pakistan. Ph.D. diss. University of New England, Armidale, Australia.Google Scholar
2.Asian Population and Development Association. 1996. Report on the Basic Survey of Agricultural and Rural Development by Progress Stage in Asian Countries: Pakistan. Asian Population and Development Association, Tokyo, Japan.Google Scholar
3.Barrett-Lennard, E., and Qureshi, R.. 1994. Using salt land in Pakistan: An Australian connection. J. Agric. West. Aust. 35(3):95–98.Google Scholar
4.Blaikie, P. 1985. The Political Economy of Soil Erosion in Developing Countries. Longman, London.Google Scholar
5.Cleveland, D. 1998. Balancing on a planet: Toward an agricultural anthropology for the twenty-first century. Human Ecol. Interdisc. J. 26:323–341.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6.Davidson, A. 1987. Does farming systems research have a future? Agric. Admin. Ext. 24(2):69–77.Google Scholar
7.Davidson, A., and Ijaz., K. 1997. Baseline Socioeconomic Survey of Salt-affected Villages in the Satiana Region of the Punjab. Publication No. 166. International Waterlogging and Salinity Research Institute, Lahore, Pakistan.Google Scholar
8.Dove, M. 1994. The existential status of the Pakistani farmer: Studying official construction of social reality. Ethnology 33:331–352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9.Government of Pakistan. 1997. Economic Survey of Pakistan 1996–1997. Finance Division, Islamabad, Pakistan.Google Scholar
10.IWASRI. 1991. Identification of Constraints Faced by Farmers in Adopting Reclamation Techniques for Saline and Sodic Soils within Irrigated Areas of Punjab and Sindh. International Waterlogging and Salinity Research Institute; Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority, Lahore, Pakistan.Google Scholar
11.Khan, F. 1991. A Geography of Pakistan: Environment, People and Economy. Oxford University Press, Karachi, Pakistan.Google Scholar
12.Khan, M.A. 1985. Man, Nature and Environment. Government of the Punjab, Agricultural Dept., Lahore, Pakistan.Google Scholar
13.Looney, R. 1997. The Pakistani Economy: Economic Growth and Structural Reform. Praeger, Westport, CT.Google Scholar
14.NRC (National Research Council). 1991. Toward Sustainability: Soil and Water Research Priorities for Developing Countries. National Academy Press, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
15.Qureshi, R., and Barrett-Lennard, E.. 1998. Saline Agriculture for Irrigated Land in Pakistan: A Handbook. Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, Canberra.Google Scholar
16.Ruttan, V.W. 1982. Agricultural Research Policy. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.Google Scholar
17.Steenblik, R. 1996. When farmers fend for the environment. OECD Observer 203:16–19. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris.Google Scholar
18.Traxler, G., and Ruttan, V.. 1986. Assistance for water resource development in Pakistan: Some lessons from experience. Pakistan J. Agric. Social Sci. 1:72–91.Google Scholar
19.Wiegand, C., Anderson, G., Lingle, S., and Escobar, D.. 1998. Soil salinity effects on crop growth and yield: Illustrations of an analysis and mapping methodology for sugarcane. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture's Tektran database at Web site http://www.nal.usda.gov/ttic/tekran/data/00000061193.html (accessed 18 Nov. 1998).Google Scholar