It has a remarkable indigenous method of irrigation called the karez, which consists of underground channels and galleries that collect subsoil water at the foot of hills and carry it to the fields and villages. The water is drawn from the channels through shafts that are sunk into the fields at suitable intervals. Because the channels are underground, the loss of water by evaporation is minimized. The technology for the construction of the karez probably came from western China, brought into Balochistan by the Buddhist monks who traveled back and forth over the Karakoram Range. The plateau is an extremely arid country and is the most sparsely populated region in Pakistan.
Pastoral activity supplements a primitive form of agriculture.
True pastoral nomadism survives in the northwest. Goats and fat-tailed sheep account for the majority of the stock, and much of the local traffic consists of camels and donkeys, although trucks and buses are in use on the new roads. All these areas are extensions of the Thar Desert of western India.