A small district of 2,373 square kilometres, Mandi Bahauddin lives in a powerful neighbourhood. Surrounded by larger, richer and politically more influential cities of Sargodha, Jehlum and Gujrat, the district has grown from a 16th-century village (Chak-51) to district headquarter in 1993. The pace of development quickened when Rasul Barrage (on River Jehlum) was constructed in 1901, and agriculture in the district got a big boom; Mandi (market) Bahauddin became a trading hub and Bahauddin assumed the Mandi as the first part of the name, replacing historical Pindi.

The historical chronology of the area is an interesting read. History books tell us that the Battle of Hydaspes (now Jehlum) River was fought here between Raja Porus and Alexander the Great in 326BC. Though the battle ended in a Greek victory, it, however, drained Alexander’s army to the extent that it refused to go beyond Hyphasis (modern-day Beas) River. The recorded events show that a village (Chak-51) was founded in 1506, the area was taken away from neighbouring Gujrat in 1849 (just before the War of Independence), linked to railways in 1901, a grain market was set up in 1924 and the status of a district conferred in 1993.

The sociology of the district, however, seems a replica of parental Gujrat, which means going and settling abroad is a social priority. “You hardly find a household in which one of the scions has not gone abroad, remitting money and family surviving on handouts,” says Mushtaq Gondal, living on the conurbations of the district headquarters. Even in the remotest villages, one can find Spanish architecture — sprawling and imposing — reflecting the power of money coming from abroad. They are the symbols of social power and work as powerful incentives for those still stuck here. “Everyone is thus eager to escape abroad and earn money and (social) respect in the area,” he concludes.

Remittances have disincentivised local’s from developing the extremely fertile land beyond a lazy three-crop pattern of wheat, rice and sugarcane

This social attitude also dictates the agricultural realities of the district. The race to go abroad has relegated agricultures down the priority list of survival. “The district has a list of positive natural endowments for agriculture development,” claims a local official of the agriculture department — not even a single acre of the district is waterlogged and saline. All 548,726 acres of the district are cultivable and fertile. Since the district falls between two rivers (Jehlum on the upper side and Chenab on the lower), its aquifer is second to none. Fed by two canals (Upper and Lower Jehlum), underground water in the entire district is ideal for agriculture.

To make the matter even beneficial, water is available at only 25 to 30 feet depth — making pumping it out much easier and cheaper. To top it all, the whole district has light loam soil, which drains quickly after rain or watering — making it easier to cultivate and work on. Since loams represent a mixture of clay, sand and silt, they avoid the extremes of clay or sand and are considered highly fertile. On top of it all, being a big trading hub of grains should have further incentivised agriculture.

However, despite all these natural and man-made factors, the district has refused to identify itself with agriculture, he laments.

Further adding to agricultural woes, landholdings are small. “One can literally count big landlords on the fingers of one hand, rest are small (2 to 3 acres) holdings, which do not make any commercial or investment sense,” explains Muhammad Nadeem — a resident of a village bordering the citrus belt of Sargodha district.

The districts agriculture picture revolves around three crops — wheat, rice and sugarcane — and it ends there. Out of a total of 548,726 acres, 523,000 acres are consumed by these three crops if the Punjab Crop Reporting Service data is to be believed. Citrus orchards, a local speciality that is traded all over the world, is perched only on 22,000 acres, and that too in the area bordering Sargodha, not in the deep heartland of the district.

There are hardly any vegetables in the area because they need time, patience and careful tending — rare commodities in an area mentally living in another land. The only way to develop agriculture here is to bring fragmented lands and farmers together in some kind of social and economic bondage — be it cooperatives or corporate farming. Otherwise, the area would continue suffering “foreign dependency syndrome” instead of domestic reliance.

This three-crop pattern is also the result of laid back agriculture; all three of them are easy crops, which only need watering at the right time — not much else in terms of advanced farm practices. Even bamboo is being planted on fertile lands only because it grows on its own without much care. It shows the living style of the district dwellers, he concludes.

It is not only agriculture that suffered because of local sociology, but all its subsectors as well. Take the example of livestock; according to the official statistics, there are 627,610 (buffalo 461,765 and cows 165,845) large animals in the district, small animals number 108,907 and rural poultry is 175,250. All of them are being raised in traditional ways.

“Number of animals brings social respect to a farm, and that is it,” laments a local official of the department. Animals are kept and raised for purposes other than commercial. That is why there are only a few dairy farms that claim to run on modern lines and as commercial entities. Some people did try to dare into “animal fattening ventures” but since local and trained manpower is not available, all nine of them are struggling and none of them could go beyond three dozen animals.

As if damage to agriculture and its sub-sectors was not enough, the social attitude also afflicted the industrial growth. The district can hardly boast about any industrialisation, except for one big sugar mill. “All that the district has on its industrial CV is one textile mill, one sugar mill, few rice shellers, some flour mills and bricks making units,” says a local official of the Industries Department.

Since the district’s way of life does not leave space for artisanship like next door Gujrat, which excels in clay pottery and furniture making, local industrial growth has been hampered. Though there are close to 1,000 units in the district, their total employment may not be more than 15,000 because they are too small to generate a respectable amount of employment. “Even being the offspring of Gujrat — part of the “Golden Triangle” of districts (along with Gujranwala and Sialkot) that have developed export economies — has not helped Mandi Bahauddin industrialise. The only exportable commodity it has is manpower, he concludes.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, August 23rd, 2021