EXPANSION OF BUILT UP AREA AND ITS IMPACT ON URBAN AGRICULTURE: A CASE STUDY OF PESHAWAR-PAKISTAN

Abstract

This dissertation traces the spatial growth of Peshawar City District and its impact on urban agriculture. Peshawar is the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one of the major cities of Pakistan. Data and information for the study was collected from historic maps, satellite images, documents, government offices (mostly from revenue record), private stake holders like real estate agents and farmers. The analysis shows that the city has been growing at a very rapid pace in recent years and in the absence of planning control has seen tremendous urban sprawl. The urban sprawl first set its foot in 1960s along the major roads radiating out of the city and cantonment. It then started expanding in a leapfrog fashion encroaching upon agricultural lands in the fringe with minimum of facilities and all the harmful environmental and social consequences. The haphazard growth often resulted in the development of slums or undesirable residential areas with lack of services and amenities, piecemeal commercial development, and intermix of conforming and non-conforming land uses. The pattern of development of urban sprawl in Peshawar is typical of most Pakistani major cities, where ribbon sprawl is common along major roads, while leapfrog sprawl is prevalent in the city’s fringes. The sprawl is consuming rich agricultural land and poses a threat to food security. The study highlights the causes of urban sprawl, analyzes land use dynamics and discusses some of the strategic and policy options that are available to control proliferation of sprawl and promote sustainable development of land use in the city. The most alarming aspect of encroachment on farmland in Peshawar City District is the loss of prime agricultural land. Residential land use was the biggest consumer of farmland during 1991-2009 period. Some 8,748 hectares of farmland was lost for residential purposes. Brick kilns were the second largest consumer after residential land use. Conversely, gain in the farmland was achieved mainly by bringing cultivable waste area of around 26,600 hectares under plough. However, most of the area brought under cultivation did not belong to prime agricultural land and was mostly rain fed area in southern part of the city district. Moreover, further expansion of agricultural land has vstopped and therefore, any future assault on farming land will not be compensated even by inferior quality agricultural land. In order to analyze land use and farming dynamics in peri-urban environment in this research, five sample mauzas were randomly selected for detailed study. The changes have been more drastic in those mauzas/villages located near the core city than those located away from it. Success of housing schemes on agricultural land has inspired individuals and groups of all types to join the race and buy land across Peshawar. There is a need to control this trend, which is continuing in the absence of land use or planning control. Multiple government agencies and political interests influence land use development in Peshawar City District. There is a need to promote coordination between them and develop a flexible plan for the City District. It has to be realized by both the government as well as the general public that the encroachment of urban uses over farmland is cutting into national food basket and the present policy, or the lack of it, is ultimately bound to cause greater shortage of foodstuff and increased dependence on import. Therefore the present assault on urban farmland cannot be allowed to continue. However, the commercial pressure on farmlands has to be tackled through exploitation of available commercial opportunities. Farmers have the potential towards adjusting their enterprises to take advantage of new economic opportunities at the urban fringe. However, Government support is indispensible towards this end. The recognition of urban and peri- urban agriculture as urban land use, and its integration in land use plans and the creation of a favourable policy environment are critical basic steps towards this end.