Changing rain patterns challenge Thar’s natural pastoral resilience

HYDERABAD: The dwellers of Sindh’s Thar Desert are on cloud nine as the recent rains have left the fertile sand dunes covered in lush grasses for the livestock and a wide variety of wild vegetables and fruits for the humans.

The wild food products that grow in the desert after rains include small and large-sized melons, watermelon, tinda (apple gourd), guar (cluster bean), mushrooms, and others.

Farmers in the desert, besides grazing animals in the green fields, have equal access to naturally grown food products after the rains. Everybody can take these food items for free for consumption.

“When animals have plenty to feed in the grazing fields, naturally in return they may give more milk,” said Muhammad Siddiq, a community activist from Mithi, Tharparkar district.

Animals were the traditional assets for herder families that contribute to meet the nutritional needs of growing children, their mothers, and all the family members, Siddiq said.

“There is a need of promoting traditional practices to preserve food products for humans and fodder for animals, which may vanish after some time.”

Recalling the past, Siddiq said here in Thar traditionally elderly farmers used to collect fodder and preserve it by drying in fields. “They use the same preserved fodder during the wintering season. Animals take the preserved grass fondly during cold days,” he added.

Similarly, elderly women had their own skills to preserve naturally grown food items, which could be used for a long time, in some cases for a whole year, he said.

The situation in terms of availability of wild food products can be measured from the fact that after the recent rains the prices of mushrooms rose to Rs300-400/kg, because of increasing demand of short-term product in the local markets.

Similarly, melon, watermelon, and tinda are pouring into the market for sale, while some of these products also reach other markets for sale. Supplier farmers and youth earn little income to ease their families by selling these products.

The desert people preserve mushrooms by grinding them into powder, which they consume for food as well as use it as a remedy for joint pain or treating animals with weak or fractured bones.

Ali Akbar Rahimoo, another community leader working on water and education in the desert area said in the second spell it rained more than 450mm, covering 99 percent of the area but it was late.

“Usually Thar needs three heavy rains, at least 150mm each, one after another, till July for cultivating crops,” Rahimoo said adding it was because Thar farmers had their own crop calendar and they cultivated crops in June and July. As the rain had been delayed and majority of farmers could not cultivate traditional crops, timely, he said.

Talking about fodder preservation, Rahimoo said besides naturally grown grasses, farmers also take residue of food crops like pearl millet, guar and others to preserve it for animals.

He said available grasses in fields and stored water was usually enough for livestock till January, February and March, depending on the situation.

Rahimoo complained that the concerned government departments were not interested in promoting livestock in Thar, despite the fact it was a the major source of livelihood of the people.

He urged the authorities to come up with plans to encourage livestock farmers to preserve local seeds and grasses. Rahimoo said due to carelessness and ignorance on the part of the government, “we are losing good grasses as they are being replaced by toxic plants, which are harmful for animals”.

The reports gathered through community activists from the areas show that naturally after greenery the milk productivity is increasing all around. This is the sign of prosperity for the herder families. Milk and yogurt have a great nutritional value to benefit families.

For example, if a family holds three–four cows they can produce desi ghee, which has a huge market because of its purity and organic quality.

The price of desi ghee is around Rs1400/kg at local market. You may measure the importance of dairy products from the economic perspective that how these families can earn income.

The poor people, who do not have animals, can also have access to dairy products in the neighbourhood. Thus, the situation is favourable in terms of having benefits, economically, socially, and wellbeing wise.

Some community activists feared that grasses and vegetables may vanish within two-three months. The herder families face hardships in case of unavailability of grasses for grazing their animals.

In this situation the option left for them is to migrate to barrage areas as usual for grazing animals.

Traditionally, herder families lead their herds to barrage areas during the months of November and December. They stay there for six months, as the rains usually start in July and August.

The availability of cattle herds in the desert area for long time may prove a blessing for the communities in terms of having milk, butter, yogurt and ghee to maintain their health, especially for feeding their young.

Malnutrition among newborn and minors in Thar desert always draws the attention of world media.

Prof Ismail Kumbhar, a leading researcher at the Sindh Agriculture University (SAU) Tandojam, said traditionally the months of June and July used to be the crop season, which had changed now.

“Change in rain patterns, especially in Thar, has pushed farmers to face the natural phenomenon,” Kumbhar said.

Sharing observations, he said the rains had destroyed the agriculture economy of the province, adding, but they turned out to be a boon for the desert people.

The agronomist said some greedy people had grabbed the green pastures after the recent rains in Thar to use the land for commercial purposes. “Otherwise, these pasture lands were shared by all desert villages where the herders used to rear animals equally. Now they have lost natural pastures.” Professor Kumbhar proposed to develop fruit orchards and fodder farms along the natural ponds to benefit the desert dwellers and their animals.