Toba Tek Singh is one of the few towns in the country which maintained their original name after the Partition unlike Lyallpur (Faisalabad), Montgomery (Sahiwal), Campbellpur (Attock), etc. The town, which is also the headquarters of the district, had been named after a compassionate Sikh known as Tek Singh who lived beside a pond (Toba in Punjabi) in this desolate area. He would serve drinking water to passing-by travellers.

The area was covered with thick forests, which would serve as a hideout to the native tribes who resisted the British occupation of Punjab. Many of these tribes were declared criminals by the British, who developed a canal system and administrative settlements in the region by the end of the 19th century. Farmers, particularly from Jalandhar, Amritsar and Lahore, were attracted to cultivate lands here.

Always known as a forward-looking settlement, Toba Tek Singh acquired an important position even in the British era when it became a bastion of left politics for no large landholders existed there. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru also visited Toba Tek Singh before Independence. The tradition continued after the Partition as a historical Kissan Conference was held here in 1971 addressed by Maulana Bhashari. At least 200,000 peasants and progressive people from all over the country attended it making the national press declare Toba Tek Singh as “Stalingrad” and “Leningrad”. However, the left politics evaporated into thin air after the bifurcation of Pakistan.

Maize was purchased by the feed mills at Rs1,700 per maund until the harvest of the new crop when mafia reduced its rate down to Rs1,300 per maund

A tehsil of Faisalabad district, it was carved out as a separate district in 1982. Arain, Jatt, Gujjar and Rajput are the dominating biradaries (castes) here. Many say the district status was granted on political considerations and not administrative. For, then military ruler Gen Ziaul Haq wished to promote his Arain clan here.

Although the district gives a better yield than the provincial average for most crops, water scarcity bars it from attaining its full agricultural potential. Being located at tail-ends of Jhang and Gogera branches emanating from the lower Chenab Canal it receives fairly less water than its share. While river flows are on the decline across Punjab because of climatic conditions, unlike other districts it cannot plug the ensuing shortage by extracting subsoil water, which is brackish and unfit for drinking or irrigation purposes.

“The issue becomes grave because of water theft,” bemoans Chaudhry Zubair, a local farmer. “The irony of the situation is that the irrigation department has allowed mogas (water outlets) at main Jhang and Gogera canals instead of at their distributaries. These are being used to steal water by influential people.”

Calling for making the water-theft law more stringent, he however wonders who would do the job. “We’ve been holding demonstrations against water-theft and urging the public representatives to amend the laws for effectively curbing the menace though, unfortunately, most of these leaders themselves are involved in the ugly business.”

Wheat, rice, fodder, maize, sugarcane and cotton are major crops, while the farming community has also begun trying unconventional crops like oilseeds as well as vegetables. The land is also supportive of kinnow fruit.

Wheat is sown on an average of 350,000 acres, paddy on 113,000 acres, fodder on 107, 200 acres, while maize, sugarcane and cotton crops cover 104,000, 70,000 and 45,000 acres of land respectively. Potatoes, garlic, chillies, tomatoes, bajra and jowar are also popular especially among the farmers owning lands close to urban centres.

Interestingly, the average yield of jowar here is four-fold more than the provincial average. Rice and maize are gaining currency at the cost of cotton and sugarcane as the cultivation of the latter two crops is on the decline due to various reasons.

If cotton is losing its sheen because of failure of the crop year after year, sugarcane has lost its popularity among the growers due to the attitude of the millers as acreage of both the crops has significantly dropped during the last few years.

There are two sugar mills in the district. “Since 1999, I have not cultivated sugarcane because I’m fed up with the exploitation by the millers or their front-men,” declares Naeem-ul-Hassan. “The mill owners would delay the purchase of the crop so much that I would miss the prime time for clearing the fields to sow wheat. Also, they would cut my payment on one pretext or the other.”

Mr Zubair says exploitation of farmers is not confined to the sugarcane sector as mafias get active at the time of harvest of each crop. For example, he says, maize was being purchased by the feed mills at Rs1,700 per maund until the harvest of the new crop. As maize growers reaped their new crop, mafia men manipulated the market and reduced its rate down to Rs1,300 per maund.

There are also kinnow orchards at more than 36,000 acres. But owners of these orchards are worried about what they say is the sudden falling of the trees. “For the last couple of years, our kinnow trees are dying like a person suddenly dies of a heart attack,” says Mubashhar Riaz, one of the troubled farmers.

Holding the overuse of farm chemicals recommended by private extension service providers for the disease as culpable, he has turned to natural farming. In view of his personal bitter experience, he believes that for the survival of the agriculture sector farmers should be given knowledge (about the ill-effects of chemicals and benefits of natural farming) by those who have no vested interest. “Private (manufacturing) companies will be and are interested in the sale of their chemicals (pesticides) and through their agents (extension services) will be recommending spray of one or another kind of chemical to check a disease that may be controlled through simple natural remedies.”

Director Agriculture (Horticulture) Dr Basharat Ali diagnoses the disease as a fungus affecting roots of the kinnow trees and leading to their lodging. Stagnation of water for multiple days is the reason behind this fungus, particularly in hard lands like that in Tobe Tek Singh, he explains, adding the department recommends spray of fungicide before each rainy season but the recommendation or warning is usually ignored by the growers.

Canker and fruit fall are other maladies hurting kinnow orchards, lowering their yield as well as quality. Due to fruit fall the yield this season is feared to be less than half of last year’s harvest, says Mr Riaz. To overcome the yield issue, he says, he along with other like-minded growers has begun increasing plant population as per international practice. Farmers earlier used to plant 80 plants per acre. The trend changed a decade ago and the number of plants was increased to 100 to 120 per acre. Now they are going to populate the orchards with 270 plants per acre. Mr Riaz says by trimming the canopy of the tree instead of allowing it to grow as much as possible they will be able to get bigger healthier fruit because roots fail to meet the nutrition requirements of larger trees.

According to Dr Basharat, a proper spray before monsoon is the solution to control the bacteria that causes canker because of which hard brown spots develop on the fruit skin though its pulp remains unhurt. But, this compromises the look of the fruit distracts consumers of high-end markets away.

Toba Tek Singh, particularly in Kamalia and Gojra tehsils, is also a heavy livestock pocket that caters not only for this district but also for other districts of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. There are about 6.4 million rural/private poultry in the district as per Livestock Department data. Major breeds include Cross-Bred, Sahiwal in cattle, Nili Ravi in buffalo, Lohi in sheep and Teddy & Beetal in goat.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, November 1st, 2021