Agricultural Development In Frontier Districts During (1880-1901)

Abstract

The North West Frontier districts were economically at par with other districts of WestPunjab in the pre-British era. The base of the economy particularly agriculture sectorleft weak in these districts during the British period. As irrigation projects on large scalewere carried out in the Indus basin (Punjab and Sind) from 1880 onward and the worldlargest canal system ‘Indus basin’ was developed. The Indus basin canal systemcontributed tremendously to progress of agriculture in Punjab and Sind. The frontierdistricts and adjacent tribal areas could not share equally the irrigation developmentsand left weak consequently. The question arises why equal heed was not paid to theseborder districts? There are two possibilities; either mountainous landscape in the NorthWest was thought misfit for profitable agricultural development or because of strongattachment of masses of these regions to religion and to their pristine cultural valuesoffered anti-British stiff resistance, which hindered the government efforts for theirdevelopment. So the people inhabiting the land missed the chance to avail thedevelopment taken place during this period. As the Government remained engage in
restoring law and order in the region and guarding the northwestern border of IndoPak, it could not find enough time to focus onthe economic development of the regionand consequently the agricultural sector in Frontier districts remained lagged.