Early morning travel from Hyderabad to Mirpurkhas has always been a pleasant experience. Unripe, mango-laden trees in sprawling orchards dot both sides of the road and add beauty to the landscape in summer. Blossoming flowers of the mustard crop are a treat to watch in winter. Both add to the scenic beauty of the road and area.

The road — built under the Sindh government’s public-private partnership — has decreased travel time between these important cities of lower Sindh. The road has benefitted the people of Tando Allahyar too, for it passes through this smaller district before connecting the two big divisional headquarters.

Agricultural lands in Mirpurkhas are fed by the perennial 220-miles long Nara canal through its east and west Jamrao channels after the canal emanates from the Sukkur barrage on its left side. The soil quality of farmland here is high like the neighbouring Tando Allahyar district where political bigwigs such as Asif Ali Zardari own land.

The agriculture profile of Mirpurkhas district is undoubtedly interesting. Across Pakistan, it is known for its empire of mango orchards that produce the Sindhri variety that is known worldwide. It was first grown in Mirpurkhas during the British regime in the early 1930s. But now mango orchards have fast emerged in districts like Matiari and Tando Allahyar in the recent past to produce delicious mangoes, especially of the Sindhri variety. Sindhri is present day taluka of Mirpurkhas.

Other than mangoes, a unique distinction that Mirpurkhas has is the cultivation of Rhodes grass — hay — which is exported to Gulf countries as camel feed

Given the area’s immense potential for orchards, Sindh’s horticulture research station was first set up here. This has since transformed into the Sindh Horticulture Research Institute (SHRI) that mainly works on varieties of mangoes and related issues although its performance often remains debatable. An annual mango festival is organised under the institute’s aegis in Mirpurkhas though it leaves a lot to be desired. The district witnesses banana cultivation as well.

With mango orchards stretching over 32,692 acres, Mirpurkhas continues to be home to large-sized mango orchards with dome-shaped fruit trees. Mango — the king of fruits — is Sindh’s highest grown fruit. It won’t be wrong to say Mirpurkhas had pioneered mango farming.

Growers such as Mahmood Nawaz Shah are also opting for high-density mango orchards in Tando Allahyar, neighbouring district of Mirpurkhas, thanks to the advice of foreign experts besides starting exports of the fruit directly along with other growers such as Ghulam Sarwar Abro instead of depending on conventional exporters. “Mango cultivation is increasing in other districts where the soil is suitable for the fruit but Mirpurkhas still is a name to reckon with as far as taste in Sindhri mangoes is concerned,” says Mr Shah, himself a progressive mango grower.

“Our senior experts tell us that Deen Mohammad Junejo had brought a variety of mango from South India to the agriculture research farm (SHRI) in 1932. Mr Junejo cultivated it on his own land in Sindhri village/taluka for multiplication and field experiments. It remained successful. Since then this ovalish long variety of fruit was named after Sindhri as it was grown in that area after originating from South India,” recalls SHRI officer, Dad Mohammad Baloch.

Deen M Junejo was the father of Mohammad Khan Junejo, Pakistan’s premier during the Gen Zia regime. He was known for his defiance to the general as an assertive premier to the great chagrin of Zia. Eventually, he ended up losing his government in May 1988. Junejo came from this part of Mirpurkhas. Now his son Asad Junejo is busy in an agriculture-oriented business.

The area has another unique feature insofar as the farm sector of the district is concerned. Mirpurkhas marks the commencement of early summer and winter crop seasons across Pakistan. Its wheat, a winter crop, grown in Jhuddo and Kot Ghulam Mohammad reaches the market as early as February. At the same time, growers start cultivating cotton in summer which then reaches ginning factories first when farmers in other areas wait for its picking.

Mirpurkhas has a 5.9 per cent share in the now ubiquitous sugarcane crop (791,000 acres) of Sindh. Tharparkar, Mirpurkhas, Al-Abbas and Digri sugar factories are located in the district while Najma sugar mills remained closed for a long time for multiple reasons.

A unique distinction that Mirpurkhas has is the cultivation of Rhodes grass. Hay’s cultivation started in Ghotki (in upper Sindh) and Mirpurkhas (in lower Sindh) by a UAE-based company first. Later, interested growers took care of it with their own with politicians such as Ali Nawaz Shah taking leading in Mirpurkhas and Mahars in Ghotki. More acreage was then brought under Rhodes grass cultivation on a corporate agriculture pattern, needing heavy machinery for drying, cutting and bailing purposes. Hay is usually exported to Gulf countries as camel’s feed.

“Around 17,000 acres are under Rhodes grass cultivation in Sindh now. It is being used in Pakistan as well,” says Sarfaraz Junejo, president of the Pakistan Hay Association. He says Rhodes grass is being used in the livestock sector as the private sector is purchasing it from Sindh as fodder.

Perhaps the only sad part of Mirpurkhas’s agriculture economy is the unending saga of the faulty Left Bank Outfall Drain (LBOD) systems, built by the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda). It has been taking a heavy economic toll on farmers here. The LBOD obstructs old natural waterways at different places in Mirpurkhas. This aggravates the situation in extreme weather events such as heavy rainfall thanks to the climate change phenomenon. In case of such climatic events — like the Sept 2020 rainfalls — LBOD spells disaster for the farm sector in areas like Digri, Jhuddo, Tando Jan Mohammad, Kot Ghulam Mohammad etc. The drain ends in the Arabian Sea in the coastal Badin district which is also a victim of LBOD. The entire system needs investment for rehabilitation which the federal government has so far avoided.

The Sindh government, says irrigation officials, had proposed to the federal government for the inclusion of the LBOD rehabilitation scheme in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2021-22. It was not done. Sindh officials now point out that the provincial government is required by the federal government to share 30pc of the rehabilitation cost which is about Rs97 billion.

This scheme includes the revival of natural waterways. Chief engineer development region-II Zarif Khero, during World Bank’s 2005 study described LBOD as a ‘new river’ that is forming its estuary.

Documents show that LBOD’s spinal drain was handed over to the Sindh irrigation department in 1993 but it didn’t successful perform and led to serious damages in the heavy monsoon rains of the 1994 monsoon. It was returned to Wapda in 1995 which again handed it over to the irrigation department and Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority (Sida) in Feb 2002.

Countless breaches occurred in LBOD in 2011 that paralysed life in Mirpurkhas and Badin districts, damaging mango orchards in parts of Mirpurkhas subsequently as groundwater table increased substantially. Again, last year, two massive breaches — one in Badin and one in Mirpurkhas — proved disastrous for the agriculture sector, leading to the displacement of the peasantry and colossal losses to cotton, tomato and chilli crops.

Secondly, like other districts, the construction sector is witnessing a boom as growers are selling their farmland to builders and developers. It, however, is seen on the outskirts of the city. This land conversion has gone unnoticed so far as no data is available with any authority. This worries many who consider the agriculture sector important for Pakistan’s economy.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, August 16th, 2021