Expansion of Residential Colonies and Conversion of Farmland in Bahawalpur City, Pakistan: A Temporal View

Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences

Muhammad Mohsin³  Muhammad Nasaru Minallah2¹  Asad Ali Khan3² 

[1] 2Department of Geography, Govt. Postgraduate College Gojra, Pakistan;3Department of Geography, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan;Department of Geography, Govt. S.E. College, Bahawalpur, Pakistan

关键词: Farmland conversion;    Bahawalpur City;    TMA;    Housing schemes;    Legal status;   

DOI  :  

学科分类：生物科学（综合）

来源: Lifescience Global

【 摘 要 】

ThisstudyfocusesontheissueoffarmlandconversionintohousingcoloniesinBahawalpurCity.Inordertounderstandthemagnitudeofthisissue,dataof102samplecolonieswascollectedfortheperiodof1950-2011throughfieldsurveyandsecondarysourcesincludingTMABahawalpurCity.Theyearofestablishment,areaoccupiedandlegalstatusofcolonieswererecordedandthedatawereaggregatedinto10-yearcategoriesforanalysisandtoproducetemporalmaps.Resultsindicatethatduringthelast61years,anareaof1,142acres(462.15hectares)hadbeenconvertedto102coloniesatanaveragerateof18.72acresperyear.Amongthesecoloniesonly18wereapprovedbyconcernedauthoritieswhereas84werenotapprovedlegally.Approvedcoloniesoccupyanareaofjust197acres(17.25%ofthetotal)whereasnon-approvedcoloniesandtownscoverahugeareaof945acres(82.74%).Theconversionoffarmlandfluctuatedsubstantiallyovertime.Duringtheperiodof1950-1960merelysevencolonieswerebuiltwhichconsumedanareaof97acresindicatingaconversionrateof9.7acresperyear,whileduringtheperiodof2000-2010atotalof32colonieswerebuiltthatconsumedanareaof422acres(170.77hectares)indicatingconversionrateof42.2acresperyear.Thesefindingsindicatethattherateoffarmlandconversionisaccelerating.Ifthistrendgoesunchecked,theproblemoffarmlandconversionmaychangeintoaseriousthreatforfuturefoodsupplies.Thisstudyidentifiedseveralsuggestionstotackletheissue.

【 授权许可】

Unknown