Written by: Haroon Shuaib
Posted on: March 19, 2021 | 
| 中文
Fields of Rice
Hafizabad, the 31st largest city of Pakistan, is famous for growing the best quality rice in the country. The city traces its origin to 327 BC, when Alexander the Great invaded Punjab and his armies trekked through this area. The famous Chinese traveler, monk and scholar Xuanzang, also passed through here in the 6th century.
Legend has it that during the Mughal rule in the Indian subcontinent, while Emperor Akbar was passing through what is now Hafizabad, he met a saint here named Hafiz Mustafa Bukhari. Impressed by the hospitality of the saint, Akbar decided to build a city in his name, which came to be known as Hafizabad. According to another version of the story, Emperor Akbar came to this region for hunting, but lost contact with his royal caravan while chasing a deer. An exhausted and thirsty Akbar happened upon a cottage where a sage dwelled. The sage milked a grazing deer and served its milk to the Emperor. In return, the sage asked for a town to be built in that place. The Emperor ordered his advisor Hafiz Meerak to construct a city to be called Hafizabad.
During the British Raj, Central Punjab was divided into five agricultural bars or areas according to the 'new' canal irrigation system: Sandal Bar was the area between the Ravi and Chenab Rivers, Kirana Bar was the area between the western side of Chenab and the eastern side of Jehlum River, while Neeli Bar was the barrier region between the populated area and wild forest of the rivers Ravi and Sutlej. Ganji Bar was the area between Sutlej and dry river bed of Ravi, and lastly Gondal Bar was the area between Jehlum and Chenab Rivers. The territory of Sandal Bar, where today’s Hafizabad is located, has been well populated for a long time.
The British Era Gajar Gola Station in Hafizabad
In 1993, Hafizabad was given the status of a district and today Hafizabad District has a total area of 2367 square kilometers. After the construction of an interchange near Sukheke, Hafizabad is now only 22 kilometers away from the M2 motorway. Travelling on Motorway, an inescapable signage heralds the start of the area, proudly stating, “Welcome to the Rice City of Pakistan”.
An Aerial View of Rice Farming
Rice is an important cash crop for Pakistan, and it is the second largest staple food grain in the country. It has been a major source of foreign exchange earnings in the recent years. According to some estimates, each year Pakistan produces an average of 6 million tonnes of rice, and ranks 10th amongst the world’s largest rice producing countries. With the rest of South Asia, Pakistan is responsible for supplying 25 percent of the world's paddy rice output.
As a crop that requires large quantity of water to sow, rice in Pakistan is grown largely in the fertile Sindh and Punjab regions that have a sophisticated canal system. In Hafizabad, the River Chenab, one of the five rivers that give “Punj-ab” (the land of five rivers) its name, forms a natural boundary with the adjoining Mandi Bahauddin District. Dozens of canals and tributaries from Chenab have been irrigating the fields for generations of rice farmers. The famous Head Sagar Complex of Hafizabad is an engineering marvel, as an irrigation canal passes over a link canal.
A Farmer Fertilizing the Rice Fields (PC Haroon Shuaib)
In Punjab, other than Hafizabad, rice is cultivated in Sialkot, Wazirabad, Gujranwala, Sheikhupura, Gujrat, Sargodha, Faisalabad and Kasur. In Sindh, Jacobabad, Larkana, Badin, Thatta, Shikarpur and Dadu district are important for rice cultivation. Districts Nasirabad and Usta Mohammad in Baluchistan, Swat and Dir in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are also rice producing areas. Millions of farmers and traders across the country rely on rice cultivation, processing, and trade as their major source of employment. The Hafizabad City Grain Market and Jalalpur Bhattian Grain Market, are the biggest rice trading centers of the country.
Speaking about the nature of rice trade, Malik Zahid, a small landholding farmer from Hafizabad said, “I only have 14 hectares of land although we have been rice farmers in our family for generations. While large landholding farmers have means to store grains over a longer period of time at a premium price, small landholding farmers are forced to sell their rice crop immediately after harvesting to arthis or middlemen in Ghalla Mandis (grain markets). These arthis control prices, exploit small farmers by giving them credit on unfavorable conditions, have warehouses and processing monopolies. The arthi makes the most profit in the value chain, and small farmers usually remain disadvantaged. The smaller farmers do not have the means to store grains, finances to meet their immediate needs, or resources to defer selling their produce to a later time for better returns.”
Farmer Malik Zahid (PC to Haroon Shuaib)
Despite the hardships associated with the life of a small farmer, Zahid has an optimistic view of the future, and hopes that soon the small farmers of Hafizabad will start forming their own cooperatives and will be able to make better deals for their produces. “The basmati rice variety that grows in Hafizabad is unique for its quality. We have the most fertile soil, and we want to increase our per hectare yield. As our next generation receives proper education in agriculture, our experience and their knowledge will help improve the situation, and we will be able to get the right profits for our crop,” Zahid hopes.
A Farmer with his Rice Crop (PC Haroon Shuaib)
Basmati rice is the most famous variety grown in Hafizabad and many other regions of Pakistan, and is known internationally for its aroma and flavor. Basmati has cylindrical, long grain that grows about twice its size after cooking, with special fluffiness and taste. Long grain but non-Basmati rice has kernels that are slender and three to four times as long as they are wide, but don’t have a characteristic aroma and taste. The cooked long grains (commonly known as Sella) remain separate, firm, and fluffy, making them suitable for dishes like pallao and biryanis. Medium-grain or coarse rice has a shorter, wider kernel, whereas short-grain rice has a short, plump, almost round kernel. Both medium-and short-grains once cooked are moist, tender and tend to cling together, making them ideal for use in puddings.
Women Transplanting Rice in the field (PC to GRAISEA)
Ain-i-Akbari, a 16th century document recording the administration of the Mughal Empire under Emperor Akbar, written by his court historian Abu'l Fazl, referred to Basmati rice as Mushkeen or the fragrant variety, most likely grown in the same fields that today constitute Hafizabad. Hafizabad District is where the gallant Dulla Bhatti lived during the reign of Emperor Akbar, stole wealth from the rich to rescue poor girls who were being sold in the slave market, and is still remembered as the ‘Robin Hood’ of Punjab. Sandal Bar is the region where the folk love stories of Heer Ranjha and Mirza Sahiban blossomed, and the same romance can perhaps still be felt in the fragrance of every new crop of Basmati rice from the fields of Hafizabad.
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