Drought, famine play havoc with people in Tharparkar
March 26, 2014
HYDERABAD: Hundreds of families have migrated from the arid zone to safer canal-irrigated areas of Sindh with their only asset – livestock – as drought and famine play havoc with the populations of Tharparkar district.
Information collected from seven villages in two union councils, Bilawal Hingoro and Kamil Hingoro, of Sanghar’s Khipro area by the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) reveal that the combined populations of these union councils have approximately lost 720 animals to disease caused by fodder and water shortages. Further, the report reveals, at least 495 families have migrated from villages in the area.
However, people living in these affected areas are divided over the cause of the migration with some linking it to drought and famine in the region while others simply seeing it as a yearly occurrence in which families travel long distances to earn additional sources of income to feed their children and animals.
“This is the harvest season of wheat, sunflower and pulses, which attracts a large number of labourers who travel with their livestock to irrigated farmland in Sindh.
“We stay there for a few months and move back with grain for survival,” said one local, adding that families use camels and donkeys to transport their lives with them.
People living in the desert areas of Sindh depend upon rain to earn livelihoods which revolve around livestock rearing. The share of wage labour is nominal in the desert household economy, said a PILER report. The findings of the report confirm that a significant number of people living in Sanghar district are living below the poverty line and could not meet their basic food needs. The district’s calorie-based income poverty is as high as 38.6 percent. On average, the caloric poverty incidence in rural Sindh is around 40 percent – a strong indicator of the level of deprivation, marginalisation and lack of control over resources by the population.
The situation of food and nutrition in Achhro Thar (white desert) areas of Khipro is also alarming with people in these areas claiming that around half of their livestock has perished so far.
According to reports, the overall health condition of livestock in Achhro Thar is critical. “Many animals are too weak to move due to the non-availability of fodder and grazing grounds,” said a resident, adding that there is no veterinary facility in the area and that a lack of vaccination is the main reason for the spread of disease among the livestock.
PILER Joint Director, Zulfiqar Shah, said the death of animals has severely hampered these communities’ purchasing power for food and other needs since their household economy revolves around animal husbandry.
Askan Thakar, a resident of village Ranho, said his village has seen the highest number of livestock casualties. Wagh Jee Mal, another resident of the same village, said he owned more than 200 sheep but lost over 70 of them due to the current drought and sheep pox. “We resorted to indigenous ways to cure these animals but it didn’t work,” said Mal, adding that the government should have conducted vaccination for the prevention of diseases as the drought had been in the offing due to low rainfall last year.
The PILER team met communities, district officials, members of civil society, and media, as a part of the exercise. The document says the drought is an expression of the absence of governance from these marginalised areas. “There can be more serious catastrophes in the future if the state continues to shrug off its responsibility to deliver basic rights,” said the report.
Further, it said, in order to effectively respond to the issues of the population hit by frequent humanitarian crisis as well as development gaps, the entire social order needs a revisit. The state must make an effective presence in the lives of the citizens, and citizens need to engage the state for participatory development, accountability and an inclusive social order, it added.
Information collected from seven villages in two union councils, Bilawal Hingoro and Kamil Hingoro, of Sanghar’s Khipro area by the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) reveal that the combined populations of these union councils have approximately lost 720 animals to disease caused by fodder and water shortages. Further, the report reveals, at least 495 families have migrated from villages in the area.
However, people living in these affected areas are divided over the cause of the migration with some linking it to drought and famine in the region while others simply seeing it as a yearly occurrence in which families travel long distances to earn additional sources of income to feed their children and animals.
“This is the harvest season of wheat, sunflower and pulses, which attracts a large number of labourers who travel with their livestock to irrigated farmland in Sindh.
“We stay there for a few months and move back with grain for survival,” said one local, adding that families use camels and donkeys to transport their lives with them.
People living in the desert areas of Sindh depend upon rain to earn livelihoods which revolve around livestock rearing. The share of wage labour is nominal in the desert household economy, said a PILER report. The findings of the report confirm that a significant number of people living in Sanghar district are living below the poverty line and could not meet their basic food needs. The district’s calorie-based income poverty is as high as 38.6 percent. On average, the caloric poverty incidence in rural Sindh is around 40 percent – a strong indicator of the level of deprivation, marginalisation and lack of control over resources by the population.
The situation of food and nutrition in Achhro Thar (white desert) areas of Khipro is also alarming with people in these areas claiming that around half of their livestock has perished so far.
According to reports, the overall health condition of livestock in Achhro Thar is critical. “Many animals are too weak to move due to the non-availability of fodder and grazing grounds,” said a resident, adding that there is no veterinary facility in the area and that a lack of vaccination is the main reason for the spread of disease among the livestock.
PILER Joint Director, Zulfiqar Shah, said the death of animals has severely hampered these communities’ purchasing power for food and other needs since their household economy revolves around animal husbandry.
Askan Thakar, a resident of village Ranho, said his village has seen the highest number of livestock casualties. Wagh Jee Mal, another resident of the same village, said he owned more than 200 sheep but lost over 70 of them due to the current drought and sheep pox. “We resorted to indigenous ways to cure these animals but it didn’t work,” said Mal, adding that the government should have conducted vaccination for the prevention of diseases as the drought had been in the offing due to low rainfall last year.
The PILER team met communities, district officials, members of civil society, and media, as a part of the exercise. The document says the drought is an expression of the absence of governance from these marginalised areas. “There can be more serious catastrophes in the future if the state continues to shrug off its responsibility to deliver basic rights,” said the report.
Further, it said, in order to effectively respond to the issues of the population hit by frequent humanitarian crisis as well as development gaps, the entire social order needs a revisit. The state must make an effective presence in the lives of the citizens, and citizens need to engage the state for participatory development, accountability and an inclusive social order, it added.
