Khejri

Prosopis cineraria — known across the Thar and Cholistan as kandi or jandi — is the tree that holds arid Pakistan together. It is a nitrogen-fixing legume that survives where almost nothing else does, and on a dry farm in Sindh or Balochistan that single fact is the honest reason to plant it: it feeds soil, livestock, and the cooking fire at the same time, on rainfall most crops would refuse.

Where it thrives

This is a tree built for extremes. It grows on the Sindh coast and through the Balochistan highlands on as little as 75 mm of annual rainfall, and tolerates maximum shade temperatures of 48 to 52°C.¹ A taproot that can drive 20 m down reaches moisture long after the topsoil has baked dry, which is also why it shades crops lightly instead of starving them.² It handles alkaline ground up to pH 9.8 and is reported to withstand brackish water at up to half the strength of seawater, making it one of the few reliable choices for saline, sodic, or dune sites.²

Role in the system

In a syntropic design this is your keystone arid pioneer — the first woody layer that begins repairing degraded ground. As a legume it fixes atmospheric nitrogen through Rhizobium nodulation, and crops grown beneath it in India show higher organic matter, nitrogen, and phosphorus.¹ It earns its keep in three strata at once: light upper canopy that lets an understorey of millet or fodder grasses persist, a deep root that does not compete at the surface, and leaf fall that feeds the mulch cycle. Pollarded foliage (locally “loong”) carries roughly 14% crude protein and is the dry-season fodder bridge for goats and camels when grass is gone; a moderate tree yields about 45 kg of dry leaf fodder a year.³ Pollard on a three-year rotation for maximum fodder; the same cuts yield firewood at roughly 5,000 kcal/kg.²

Growing it

Establish from seed or nursery stock at the start of the monsoon so the taproot can chase moisture down before the dry season returns. Protect young stems from browsing — a guard mesh in the first two years is the difference between a tree and a chewed stick. Three decisions decide success: site it on the poor, dry, or saline ground where it has an edge rather than your best soil; water only through the first dry season, then leave it to its taproot; and start the pollard discipline early so the tree forms a clean, harvestable crown rather than a thorny tangle.

What you get

Year-round dividends: dry-season fodder from June through October, firewood from each pollard, and quiet soil improvement under the canopy that lifts intercrop yields. Mature trees become multi-decade fixtures that anchor dunes and shelter livestock — the kind of asset you plant once and harvest from for a generation.

Sourcing notes

Buy young seedlings from a nursery raising local provenance stock, and plan companions before planting: pair it with hardy fodder grasses and salt-tolerant pioneers on the worst ground, then layer in fruiting trees as the soil recovers. For pollarding tools and establishment guards see our telescopic bypass loppers and tree guard mesh. Further reading: pioneer species for coastal salinity and livestock in the mature canopy.

Sources

1. World Agroforestry (ICRAF) (2009). “Prosopis cineraria, Agroforestree Database.” World Agroforestry Centre.
2. Winrock International / NFTA (1985). “Prosopis cineraria — A Multipurpose Tree for Arid Areas.” Winrock International.
3. Feedipedia (2017). “Prosopis (Prosopis cineraria).” Feedipedia, INRAE/CIRAD/AFZ/FAO.