**7.1 Indus Delta**

The region comprises of the Indus Delta and the surrounding areas of Thatta, Badin districts, and parts of Hyderabad that are formed through successive advancement of land into the sea. The tall grasses and salt bushes had hampered the spread of agriculture in large areas. The changing nature of the Indus distributaries, floods, and marshes makes the reclamation of the land a major challenge (**Figure 7**). The region is characterized by arid tropical marine climate with moderate hot summers and very mild winters. However, due to prevalence of sea breeze during summer, the day temperatures are not very high.

There are two types of soils in the region comprising of clayey and salty soils. The clayey soils cover about one half of the area (**Figure 8**). Generally, the saline and clayey soils of the region are barren. Parts of clayey soils are under irrigated cultivation to grow mainly rice and some sugarcane and pulses. Berseem fodder has high potential in the rotation of the crops. Locally, banana and orchards are also located on clayey soils.

**Figure 7.** *Agro-ecological zones of Pakistan, GoP [19].*
