Drought Resistant Trees
Posted: April 13th, 2015, 11:45 am
Dear All,
I'm a new member for this website as well as gardening fraternity. I've started up kitchen gardening however I'm more concerned about rapidly depleting underground water level in Pakistan Overall.
This is nothing new as I quite remember articles of warning keep appearing in newspaper over time. But we as a nation and our government pay no heed to such warning and keep wasting our resources especially water and now fertile land as well. This is now actually showing its results into rapid land degradation.
Major cause which I found during my search on internet was deforestation in order to cultivate more and more land and other reasons as well, trees were cut down. It is observed in international research that roots of tree help retain water level and prevent seepage or its rapid depletion. Rapidly decreasing underground water level coupled with windstorms or overgrazing of herds/ livestock damages/ removes the upper layer of the soil which is considered most critical for cultivation. Ultimately, not only we have to dig deeper for water tubewells; but we also need to provide more fertilizer to makeup the deficiency of soil nutrients. As a result, this is turning our very fertile lands into barren wastes of sand dunes.... especially in areas of Rahim Yar Khan and Bordering area of Punjab/Sindh where I have witnessed this phenomenon myself and discussed with the locals.
Now after much search over the internet, I have come to the conclusion that there are certain steps to avoid this land degradation and to cope with drought like phenomenon. These include
1. Tree Plantation of drought resistant species at boundaries of the fields (Preferably trees with roots quite deep)
2. Rainwater Harvesting Techniques combined with drip irrigation.
3. Crop rotation (with the precise advice from specialists regarding which crops to grow for which soil nutrient.)
Above findings are result of my readings of certain international agencies e.g., UNEP, IFAD etc. We might need some customization in accordance with our environment. Comments from experts are quite welcome and specially needed regarding which Trees can be planted in drought ridden areas?
I'm a new member for this website as well as gardening fraternity. I've started up kitchen gardening however I'm more concerned about rapidly depleting underground water level in Pakistan Overall.
This is nothing new as I quite remember articles of warning keep appearing in newspaper over time. But we as a nation and our government pay no heed to such warning and keep wasting our resources especially water and now fertile land as well. This is now actually showing its results into rapid land degradation.
Major cause which I found during my search on internet was deforestation in order to cultivate more and more land and other reasons as well, trees were cut down. It is observed in international research that roots of tree help retain water level and prevent seepage or its rapid depletion. Rapidly decreasing underground water level coupled with windstorms or overgrazing of herds/ livestock damages/ removes the upper layer of the soil which is considered most critical for cultivation. Ultimately, not only we have to dig deeper for water tubewells; but we also need to provide more fertilizer to makeup the deficiency of soil nutrients. As a result, this is turning our very fertile lands into barren wastes of sand dunes.... especially in areas of Rahim Yar Khan and Bordering area of Punjab/Sindh where I have witnessed this phenomenon myself and discussed with the locals.
Now after much search over the internet, I have come to the conclusion that there are certain steps to avoid this land degradation and to cope with drought like phenomenon. These include
1. Tree Plantation of drought resistant species at boundaries of the fields (Preferably trees with roots quite deep)
2. Rainwater Harvesting Techniques combined with drip irrigation.
3. Crop rotation (with the precise advice from specialists regarding which crops to grow for which soil nutrient.)
Above findings are result of my readings of certain international agencies e.g., UNEP, IFAD etc. We might need some customization in accordance with our environment. Comments from experts are quite welcome and specially needed regarding which Trees can be planted in drought ridden areas?