From food to fodder: New challenges changing crop preferences in Sindh

By Jan Khaskheli
October 16, 2018

HYDERABAD: The livestock economy is gaining momentum in rural areas as emerging farming challenges like shortage of water, the government’s failure to fix support prices, and market problems are forcing tillers to change their crop cultivation priorities and the result is a shift from growing food to fodder crops.

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One of such grass is lusan, which is commonly known as the king of fodder crops. It can survive in all weather conditions, including biting cold and boiling heat. Once cultivated and maintained, this fodder crop can be harvested for two-three years continuously, depending on care and water.

Only few farmers attribute a decline of lusan (Alfalfa lucerne) grass to horse population that needs this multi-vitamin and calcium-laden food for maintaining their health.

They believe that the fast decrease in horse population has impacted on cultivation of this most nutrient grass fodder, which is considered a favourite food for these beasts of burden.

The reports gathered from different canal areas reveal that the area under lusan cultivation has been reduced unimaginably for the last ten years. Farmers seem reluctant to spare a piece of land for cultivating this commercial grass fodder, despite its importance.

Obviously lusan is winter grass and farmers need five-six kilogram seed per acre to get the crop off the ground. They harvest it the whole year and earn enough income, but they have to stop cutting it during February and March to collect seed. Later, the crop again starts growing after receiving water as per its needs.

Gone are the days when tonga was a traditionally popular transport means and people used to hire it for traveling to different destinations or taking a ride. Farmers used to cultivate lusan grass for commercial purposes, mostly for horses. Its demand as the staple feed for horses is higher in town markets.

Though new emerging transportation means like Qingqi (chingchi) rickshaw, loader, and other vehicles have replaced traditional sources like horse cart and tonga, some people still keep popular horse breeds for riding and using it in tonga in many areas.

Some families keep horses for personal use in different areas. A small number of horses can be seen in private stables in rural areas and are used in occasionally races, cattle shows, animal exhibitions, and parades for just hobby.

The lusan grass has the capacity to maintain the fertility of land. The other winter grasses include berseem, barley, and mustard. Presently, farmers cultivate maize, sorghum, pearl millet, guar, and cowpeas in summer season for commercial purposes and sell them in urban markets.

The reports show that hybrid maize grass looks dominating, which farmers cultivate three-four crops throughout the year and harvest it for the market.

Some farmers avoid feeding lusan grass to other domestic animals like buffalo, cow, goat and sheep, believing it causes health problems for these animals. It is high energy grass, which is favourite for horses and donkeys.

The changes in crops cultivation show that jantar grass (Susbania esculata), which is favorite food for goats, has replaced this old lusan grass in market. Mustafa Nangraj, a renowned researcher and trainer of Sindh Agriculture Extension Department said the area of maize cultivation for fodder has increased in canal areas, where farmers have shifted from traditional major food crops to fodder cultivation.

It is considered a profitable crop and farmers can make money on daily basis through its sale. Similarly, jantar is a new emerging fodder crop, which has replaced many other similar crops due to its increasing market, Nangraj said.

In terms of maintaining fertility of land, he said, frequent cultivation of maize in the same land affects soil badly.

“Comparatively, jantar is a more favourite food for small animals like goats and sheep, which rehabilitate fertility of degraded land,” Nangraj said adding it was usually cultivated on the saline land in different parts of the province to restore soil fertility.

The official believes that the area of high delta crops like sugarcane and rice has decreased due to various reasons, mainly water scarcity and increasing soil nutrient deficiency.

“Only some rice growers have adopted the new practice to produce rice on dry land like wheat. In this practice farmers neither need to spend a lot of money and time for preparing nursery nor do they require more water. They just buy seed and cultivate it in dry land like wheat, sorghum, pearl millet, and maize,” Nangraj said.

Sindh Agriculture Institute of Research, Tandojam does not have any research on this specific grass crop, which is known for its nutrients for working animals.

Jamshed Memon, an agriculture field assistant, helping farmers in different areas in Tando Allahyar, Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas districts, said lusan grass requires fertile land and proper water to grow.

“Growers mindset has changed regarding the use of the land for other crops instead of producing lusan. Thus it is losing popularity and many farmers do not know as to how and why the area under the most nutrient-dense and valuable grass has decreased in canal areas,” Memon said.

Leading growers realise that due to lack of incentives to the producers by the government, many of them do not take the risk of cultivating delta crops, like sugarcane and rice. They prefer to cultivate fodder crops, which take two-three months each to grow and mature. These crops are easier for farmers to cultivate for commercial purposes.

There is a wide area mostly at the tail-end districts where farmers look unable to cultivate traditional crops and are switching to fodder crops, which seem profitable at the time when water is nowhere to be found in watercourses, while inputs in the form of fertilisers, pesticides, etc cost a fortune. These farmers have adopted an alternative to extracting underground water through tube wells for irrigating their farmlands.

Research on fodder for livestock conducted by Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) shows that the livestock population in the country is 163 million heads, including cows, buffalos, goats, sheep, horses, and camels.

The animal population is increasing at the rate of 4.2 percent/year. But reportedly the production and supply of fodder has declined.

The researchers refuted the understanding about a decrease in cultivable land due to water scarcity, saying the acreage of land is the same but cultivation of grass fodder as cash crop looks preferable.

They gave example of corporate sector phenomenon, which use thousands of acres land in different districts and produce fodder crops in bulk for export.

There’s are no two ways about the fact that livestock plays an important role in poverty alleviation of the rural folks, who raise animals at a small scale. It is a source of self-employment for men and women, producing milk, meat, and variety of dairy products to earn their livelihoods.

The increasing trend of keeping livestock as an alternative source of income in rural areas depends on agriculture to produce fodder grasses.

The challenges of water scarcity and increasing soil fertility have disrupted the crop cultivation mechanism and farmers have lost many important fodder crops, including lusan, despite being profitable and nutritious.

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