Agricultural In Hunza.
Historically agriculture has been a way of life for the people of this remote and isolated region. Due to isolation people were self reliance to fulfill consumption needs from local production. However, the local production was not enough to provide enough calories to the population.
Agriculture is one of the most important means of livelihood and occupation for the people of the village. Nearly every household is engaged in agriculture while some being totally dependent on, while some supplement their household income with non-farming sources. Construction of KKH opened the region to the plains of Pakistan. Different development agencies especially AKRSP started to develop agriculture sector through an integrated development approach. AKRSP has made an extraordinary contribution in agricultural development through the development of barren lands, construction of irrigation channels, introduction of cash crops, hybrid seeds, the provision of micro-credit, subsidised agricultural inputs and marketing channels. These all finally led to commercialisation of agriculture sector in the region.
Special Aspect of Agriculture in Hunza
Agriculture is still one of the important means of livelihood and occupation of the people of the village. The village has a fertile terraced land while soil and temperature are suitable for agricultural practices with scarcity of water in the village. However, with the modernization majority of the people supplement agriculture with non-farm sources.
1. Ownership
Nearly every household is engaged in agriculture. Hunza like the rest of the Hunza valley is the home of small farmers distinguishing them from rural areas of Pakistan in peasantry. Almost all the farmers are owner cultivators. Overwhelming majority of households comprise small land possessing. The average cultivable land per household is about 4 kanal however the total household landholding is about 10 kanal per household.
2. Single cropping
Due to short cropping season and high Hunzaude only one crop is possible to fully mature. However, maize or barley can be cultivated as fodder crop before or after any major crop.
3. Irrigation water
The cultivated lands and orchards are irrigated from the Ultar glacier. This is the only source of water to irrigate all the surrounding villages. Therefore the village faces scarcity of irrigation water during cropping season.
4. Agricultural Methods
Although with modernization the older agricultural techniques were replaced with new one. However, due to difficult terraced and small fields and lack of link roads the older ploughing method with bullocks is still in practice.
Main Crops Grown
1. Wheat
Wheat has remained the staple crop in Hunza for long time, but now-a-days potato has largely replaced it. In Hunza it is sown in March-April and is harvested in July and August.
2. Barley
Barley is also cultivated in this area. During old time the flour of this crop has been used to prepare food. Now a day it is used as a fodder crop.
3. Maize
Maize is also primarily a fodder crop and is cultivated after the maturity of the major crop.
4. Fodder Crops
Different fodder crops i.e. barseem, shafthal and alfalfa are also grown to meet the need of livestock.
Horticulture
This is also an important source of income and includes fruit growing and vegetable production. The environmental factors like soil, climate and water are favorable to grow variety of fruits and vegetables.
In Hunza every household has small or large orchards. Previously the farmers were not giving much attention to scientific aspects of planting trees. AKRSP introduced new and hybrid fruit varieties in the region. Moreover, considerable new area has been brought under orchards every year. The farmers are now giving preference to horticulture as compared to crops. Most important fruits grown in this area are apple, apricot, cherry, pear, mulberry, peaches and grapes.
Vegetables
Due to favorable weather and fertile land a large variety of vegetables mostly for self consumption are grown in kitchen gardens. These vegetables except potato are consumed locally due to inaccessibility to large market areas of down country. Potato is the only cash crop of not only this village but of the entire Hunza valley. Tones of potato are exported to down country markets. Some vegetables are dried for winter season.
Important vegetables are potato, tomato, turnip, peas, cabbage, carrot, radish, onion, gourd and spinach.
Potato
Potato is the most important and single cash crop of the entire Hunza valley. The Aga Khan Rural Support Program (AKRSP) introduced this crop and initially provided farming outputs in order to encourage the cultivation of potato in Hunza. Due to this each household has devoted most of their land for potato cultivation.
