The agriculture sector has long been the dominant and flourishing resource of the area. There are two cropping seasons in Khanozai. Kharif crops are sown in summer and harvested in late summer or early winter while Rabi crops are wheat, barely, cumin, vegetables and fodder. Crops sown during Kharif cropping season include melon, tobacco, potato, onion, vegetables and fodder. These are cash crops and contributing as prompt financial support for farmers. The farmer of the area use scarce water resources in an efficient and effective manner. Generally, those crops which require much water are produced in the area, however, since the recent past, the trend is going to change to produce those which need comparatively less water. During Rabi cropping season, wheat constitute the major share of irrigated area, followed by vegetables, cumin, barley, and fodder. During the Kharif cropping season, fruits are produced at larger scale, followed by tobacco and vegetables particularly potatoes and onions are also important Kharif crops. The farmers in Khanozai are highly commercialized and produce market crops. They have expanded their cropping pattern from subsistence to high valued cash crops over the years. It can be concluded that the major threat to the future of agriculture in Khanozai include down going water table and high costs of agricultural inputs such as electricity, fertilizers and labor (Ashraf & Routray, 2013). Agriculture basically constitute two important sub-sectors i.e. horticulture and livestock.
Horticulture
Horticulture is the prominent sub-sector of the Khanozai and enormous quantities of good qualities of apple – Tor Colo, Shin Colo and Gaja, etc., are produced (Education Department Government of Balochistan, 2011). Fruit production is also now dominating in the area as it requires less amount of water compared to those of apple. It may easily be concluded that horticulture remains a dominant sector in the area’s economy. The cropping pattern explains the types of crops produced by the farmers in tehsil Karezat including Khanozai and district Pishin. The cropping pattern explored by a very recent study (Ashraf. & Routray., 2014), validates that fruits are produced at larger scale followed by wheat and vegetables.
