Waterborne diseases taking toll on Thar livestock

HYDERABAD: As scattered rains give hope to communities in parts of Thar Desert, some herders complain of livestock suffering from “liver fluke infections”, posing a threat to their valuable assets.

The first pre-monsoon showers can turn the desert into an oasis of green grasses and shrubs, but those are covered with a layer of dust. When animals consume these plants, they fall sick instantly, mainly experiencing diarrhoea and cough, the community people said.

The reason of these diseases they narrate is lack of rainfall. This results in herds not having access to quality fodder and natural grazing fields, they said.

Ganesh Menghwar, a herder in a famous village Ramsar in Umerkot district, was among a dozen people, both male and female, who were frightened about losing livestock due to dusty grazing fields, which were causing deadly infections.

Menghwar uses local knowledge to treat animals, but now he was experiencing difficulties and wanted to get the animals vaccinated. According to him, neither potable water was available, nor was there green vegetation in the area. “Thus, animals fall prey to these dusty matters,” he added.

Dry plants and vegetation covered with a layer of dust could only be washed by rain, Menghwar said.

Travelling through sand dunes in this hot weather, one might experience strong dusty winds all around, posing threats to trees and poor makeshift abodes of the desert communities, besides disrupting travel.

Local people know that whirlwinds are a frequent phenomenon in summers.

Leri Menghwar, a herdswoman of the same village, possesses 25 goats and two donkeys, which she brought for vaccination and de-worming at a vaccination centre outside the village.

Leri’s family has eight acres of land, which she expects to cultivate after monsoon.

Sharing last years experience, she said her family had cultivated pearl millet, guar, mung bean, sesame and moth bean, to stock sufficient food for consumption and fodder for animals for the whole year. But swarms of locusts attacked all the crops, except guar, leaving nothing behind. She was able to collect only four maund guar.

Now, the community people are experiencing hard times due to frequent disasters like uncertain rainfalls, lockdown due to new coronavirus and locust attacks, which may return anytime as many districts of the country are hit by the swarms.

Community people, who had gathered at the scene with a large number of animals for vaccination said locust swarms had damaged standing crops and natural fruit trees, which were essential to sustain people and livestock, both.

The Ramsar Village comprises 172 households, which own livestock, including 2,400 goats, 460 cows, 260 camels, two horses, and 244 donkeys. Besides milking animals, they believe that donkeys and camels were useful for the desert families.

Thari people depend on rain for cultivation and rehabilitation of grazing fields for their animals, which are a major source of livelihood as well as help in maintaining health and nutrition of growing children.

Villagers have reportedly lost 250 heads of different breeds, cattle, cows and sheep only in this village during the recent dryness, which has depressed community herders.

Their losses due to weather ups and downs are enormous. That is why they now have lesser number of animals as compared to past, when they used to spend happy days.

Ramsar Village is situated in Union Council Kaplore, a desert part of Umerkot district, which shares borders with two neighbouring districts like Tharparkar and Sanghar.

The village is surrounded by sand dunes with the natural fruit bearing trees like Kandi (Prosopis cineraria), Jaar (Salvadora oleiodes) and jujube. People have witnessed that locusts have destroyed entire crops, natural fruits and tree leaves, leaving humans and animals in a vulnerable situation.

People expect to receive heavy rains this year to recover losses by rearing animals and cultivating crops to have grains and fodder for the coming year.

Thardeep Rural Development Programme (TRDP), a leading village support organisation, realising the alarming situation, besides extending financial support, has installed water facilities and launched vaccination and de-worming campaign for around 200 desert villages in Umerkot district. The move is aimed to help the communities save their animals, on which they depend for livelihood and getting nutrition through milk, butter and yogurts.

Muhammad Moosa of TRDP, having knowledge about desert economy, natural resources and desert flora and fauna, said limited monsoon rain means communities have a little drinking water. In some cases, they use contaminated water, which increases the incidences of water borne diseases.

Moosa claims to have extended multi-sector humanitarian assistance to drought affected malnourished communities in the areas of nutrition, water and health in the district.

The action aims to improve health and nutrition of droughts affected households during this hard time to lessen vulnerability of children under five from selected villages in two union councils of the district.

Umerkot district has a population of over one million with total 183,213 households. Reports suggest that 40 percent of the area in the district comes under desert, which accommodates 31,390 households, comprising 204,034 population (19 percent of total population of the district).

The desert region has been blessed with valuable plants, shrubs and trees, which bear fruits for human and animal consumption. Among these trees, kandi’s sangri pod is the last hope for survival of the desert people.

Whenever drought and dryness hits the communities residing along the sand dunes in March, these local products start selling in the markets till the middle of June. But this year, people could not access this fruit due to locust attacks and lockdown.

Apart from these trees and plants, mushroom (agaricus bisporus), phog (Calligonum polygonoides), kumbhat (Acacia senegal), Kirir (Capparis Decidua) and many other plants in the desert are mostly considered valuable as food and as herbal medicine for curing humans and animals.