| Total cultivation area in Punjab is about 50.7 million acres, whereas, the
province has over 3.8 million acres barren, non-agricultural land

MULTAN   -  About 30,000 acres of barren land are being made fertile annually in Punjab; however, the speed is extremely slow as the province has over 3.8 million acres barren or non-agricultural land.

“About 3.8-million-acre land is barren or non-agricultural soil in Punjab province which could be converted into fertile land in order to benefit country’s agriculture sector,” said an official sources in Agriculture Engineering Department.

According to official sources, the total cultivation area in the province is about 50.7 million acres. Although, the steps are being taken to convert barren land or non-agricultural land into fertile soil but the work speed for conversion of barren land to fertile land is considered slow as only 25,000 to 30,000 acres are converted to fertile land annually.

The department had prepared over 1.65 million acres so far. Similarly, the process for conversion of barren land to fertile area was heading forward smoothly. The only way for preparation of barren land is use of bulldosers, the sources stated. Bulldoser is a heavy machine that helps prepare pieces of land for agricultural work more easily than manual human labour, improving the efficiency and cost of the preparation process. The Agriculture Engineering Department has 297 bulldosers for this purpose and provided its services to farmers for leveling or preparation of the land. The use of bulldoser is equally beneficial for preparation of soil in both, mountains and plain areas.

The increase in cultivation area is vital for improving agricultural productions. About other utilisation of bulldosers, the sources maintained that the bulldosers were also used for making embankments especially during floods. Using a bulldoser ensures the soil is well leveled and in this way the target plants can grow well on flat land. Leveling of the soil also brings uniformity and spreads the soil evenly over the newly prepared land. Leveling also makes the sowing process easier for farmers. Similarly, mostly, the new agriculture pieces of lands are not connected to good transport systems. A bulldoser can clear the paths which connect the new farm to main roads and improve transport links. As, the bulldoser machine is fitted with a very sharp and strong blade. This blade cuts both, the huge trees and covering vegetation. The stumps that are left can later be uprooted by the same machine, making the land suitable for other activities such as ploughing. Apart from this, the bulldosers were also used in preparation of fish farms.