1. The Effect of land levelling
Prospects and prosperity: the effects of land-levelling in Sra khwa Shadazai
"Life in the village was hard,’ declared Khar Aka ,’ We had only a few acres of
cultivable land suitable for wheat and onions. On a good month, I made about
Rs 8000. I used to have to borrow money to make ends meet and feed hungry
mouths.”
Khar Aka recalls the hard times that USAID funded, FAO project have delivered
his community from
Khar Aka ’s land in Sra Khwa Shadazai lies in a fertile Area in Musakhel, an
impoverished district of Baluchistan Near Punjab Border And Fata border. The
climate of food insecurity, shortage and penury had made life very difficult for
farmers like Khar Aka. That is until USAID and FAO stepped in with the
‘Assistance to Agriculture in Baluchistan Border Areas’ of BAP project.
The BAP project swiftly enlisted the males of 16 households in Sra Khwa
Shadazai to become part of a Men’s Community Organization (MCO) of
farmers. They meet together regularly to help each other and to formulate
proposals to the Bap project for initiatives for better infrastructure, land
development or other inputs, for which they share 50 % of the costs. Trainings
to build their capacity in Community Management Skills training GCBT
agriculture are fully funded by the BAP project. So far the MCO has benefitted
from land-leveling of 40-50 acres, increasing the cultivable land available by
five times. Now they grow tomatoes, onions, wheat, Mash,Mzae ,apples, from
trees from recommended good seeds so they produce high yields of good
quality fruit and vegetables. They have fruit trees of almonds, and many
grape . They produce 150 bags (100 kgs each) of onions, and 900 crates of
tomatoes (15 kg per crate). They are selling their onions, tomatoes and grapes
in Musakhel , D.g. Khan, Multan. The high-yielding wheat has also increased
the income of the community substantially. Every household produces 300
bags (100 kgs each) of wheat, thanks to the high quality wheat seed provided
by the BAPproject. They keep 20 bags for the next crop, 16 for household use
and sell there bags. Previously their yield was not even enough for
subsistence, with only 15 bags of 100 kgs of the poor Local ’ variety of wheat
per household, many were still left hungry and afflicted by diseases of

2. malnutrition.
For the first time in his family’s life, Of KHar Aka , the MCO Manager , is saving
money and investing it in his children’s education. In his words,
"Thanks to FAO, my income has increased and the whole family eat well, thank
God. I intend to send all my 7 children to school and have put the 4 children
who are of school age into a proper school, where they can learn facts and
figures.”
Thanks to USAID and FAO, the community is on its feet again. Their income
from their new cultivable land has increased their standard of living
substantially and diseases of malnutrition that were prevalent amongst the
women before, have now disappeared.
Stony, unleveled land (pictured above) is difficult to cultivate compared with
the lush land leveled by the BAP project (pictured below) with vineyards and
wheat fields.
Submitted by Muzaffar Khan Musakhel