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Why was the Sindh Sagar Doab less productive than other Punjab doabs?

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Physical map showing the Indus River basin and its drainage network across parts of Pakistan, India, China, and Afghanistan. The map details river courses, tributaries, canals, dams, irrigated and marsh areas, sand regions, and elevation changes with shaded relief. International, disputed, and control boundaries are marked, and a small locator map in the corner shows the basin's position within South Asia. — Indus River The Indus River basin and its drainage network.

The Sindh Sagar Doab is considered the poorest of the five major doabs in Pakistan's Punjab province primarily due to its limited agricultural land. While it is the largest doab in terms of land area, a significant portion of the region is desert.12

Historically, much of the area was a desolate waste characterized by low precipitation. Unlike the other doabs to the east, which constitute some of the country's richest agricultural lands, the Sindh Sagar Doab's productivity has been constrained by its arid environment and the presence of sandy desert soils. Although irrigation projects have been implemented to expand agriculture and promote settlement, the region remains less productive than its eastern counterparts.2314