Regional Discrepancies: Transformation of the Subsistence Livelihoods in the Cholistan Desert Region

Abstract

The Cholistan dessert is hot and dry region with two distinguished regions of Lesser and Greater Cholistan. The Lesser Cholistan is rapidly developed due to development in agriculture, infrastructure, mechanization, transfer of technology and land allotment policy. The Greater Cholistan region is least developed due to subsistence agriculture system, frequent natural hazards and epidemics outburst in the recent times. The study explores the basic causes of this discrepancies in the development of these two desert regions. The impacts of population growth, natural hazards, epidemics, modern technology, mechanization and land allotment policy are associated with transformation of subsistence livelihoods. It was found that the inhabitants of Lesser Cholistan has better adoptability capacity than Greater Cholistan due to prevailing opportunities in the policy and access to modern technology as well as least affected by natural hazards and epidemics in this desert region.