AGRICULTURE AND RELATED SECTORS

Agriculture

Mardan is known as the best agricultural area in the country. It's land is very suitable for cultivation of sugar cane and tobacco and is therefore, rightly called the land of sugar cane and tobacco. Landuse pattern of the Mardan district for the year 1997-98 is as under:

  LANDUSE PATTERN OF MARDAN DISTRICT

S.No. Land Utilization Status Area in Hectares
  Total Area Reported 162085
1. Cultivated Land 112790
i. Net Sown Area 96532
ii. Current Fallow 16258
2. Un-Cultivated Land 49295
i. Forests 7938
ii. Cultivable Waste 3217
iii. Not available for cultivation 3814

    Source: Agriculture Department, NWFP, 1997-98

The major crops grown in the district are wheat, sugar cane, tobacco, maize, rice, rape seed and mustard etc. Fruits and vegetables are also grown. The average production and yield per hectare of the major crops grown during 1997-98 are given below:-

AREA, PRODUCTION AND YIELD PER HECTRE OF THE MAJOR CROPS GROWN FOR THE YEAR 1997-98

Crop Area in (Hectares) Production in (Tonnes) Yield (Ton/Hect)
Irrigated Un-irrigated Irrigated Un-irrigated Irrigated Un-irrigated
Wheat 41941 5296 72349 3712 1.725 0.7009
Gram 7 - 4.5 - 0.643 -
Mustard 565 1533 359 830 0.635 0.0054
Rabbi Potato - - - - - -
Onion 64 - 725 - 11.328 -
Tobacco - - - - - -
Virginia Tobacco 1747 - 3891 -- 2.227 -
Desi 726 - 1344 - 1.851 -
Maize 31068 1362 55519 1186 1.787 0.870
Sugar Cane 30535 504 1265679 15624 41.450 31.000
Rice 1339 - 1181 - 1.629 -
Sugar Beat 4223.22 - 127074.017 - 30.089 -
Kharif Potato 252 - 3689 - 14.639 -

Source: Agriculture Department 1997-98

Irrigation

The main source of irrigation are the canals. The Upper Swat canal irrigates, mostly, Mardan district and the Lower Swat canal irrigates south-western part of the district. Besides, irrigation is done by tube-wells and lift irrigation. The table below shows detail of irrigation channels/schemes in Mardan district.

Sugar Cane Farm

Sugar Cane Farm, Mardan

Rahat

A unique kind of Persian Wheel (Rahat), Fazal Abad, Mardan

  

                      IRRIGATION CHANNELS/SCHEMES IN MARDAN DISTRICT

S.No. Name of River/Stream Number Flood discharge cusecs Length   Kilometers
1 Main Canal RD.90000-111850 1 949 6.66
2 Disty No.7 1 25 4.27
3 Disty No.8 1 454 21.19
4 Koragh Branch 1 94 14.96
5 Sheikh Yousaf Minor 1 32 5.78
6 Maho Dheri Minor 1 28 4.53
7 Disty No.9 1 440 26.00
8 Minor No.1/9 1 35 7.32
9 Minor No.2 of Disty No.9 1 35 6.03
10 Minor No.3 of Disty No.9 1 25 4.82
11 Kalpani Disty 1 150 15.55
12 Minor No.1 of Kalpani Disty 1 45 8.87
13 Minor No. of Kalpani Disty 1 42 9.83
Schemes:-
1 New Mayar Lift Irrigation Scheme 1 5 0.61
2 Old Mayar Lift Irrigation Scheme 1 4.3 0.82
3 Arabi Banda Lift Irrigation Scheme 1 2.0 1.65

   Source: Irrigation Department, 1997-98

Forestry

The table below shows the total area under forest including canal and road sides with resumed land and private land in the favour of plantation.

                                        FOREST AREA IN MARDAN DISTRICT

S.No. Particulars of Forests Area
1 Along the roads 115 Kms
2 Along the canals 1117 Kms
3 Section-38 (Private land for plantation) 4231 Kms
4 Resumed land 3351 Acres 3 kanals and 13 Marls

      Source: Divisional Forest Officer, Mardan, NWFP, 1997-98

Horticulture

The area is famous for orchards. The important fruits are orange, plum, peach, apricort, pear, rare mango and apple. The following are the varieties of fruits with area covered under orchards:-

          AREA UNDER ORCHARDS, MARDAN DISTRICT

S.No.

Orchards

 Area in Acres
1 Plum 300
2 Apricort 50
3 Pear 380
4 Apple 30
5 Persimmon 200
6 Malta 400
7 Peach 370
8 Sweet Orange 156
9 Leechi 70
10 Mango 12

11

 Lemon

30

Source:- Agriculture Department, 1997-98

Livestock

The people of Mardan like to keep livestock. Their population is as under:-

LIVESTOCK POPULATION, MARDAN DISTRICT

S.No. Livestock Population
1 Buffalo 100230
2 Cattle 181561
3 Goat 126067
4 Sheep 34326
5 Poultry 1149615
6 Ass 13414
7 Mule 440
8 Horse 2303
9 Camel 873

Source:- Deputy Director Livestock Department, Mardan, 1997-98