Malnourishment in Thar blamed on ill-planned development, water scarcity

‘Development’ projects and increased land grabbing in the Thar desert have rendered the desolate area water scarce, consequently affecting the traditional food pattern and give rise to malnutrition.

This was observed by senior development expert Dr Sono Kangharani at a seminar organised by the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler) and the Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology, on Tuesday.

Titled, ‘Climate is changing. Food and agriculture must too’, the event was held in line with the theme of the 2016 World Food Day.

“Ever since the area was opened up for coal projects, land grabbing in Thar became a norm. Grazing grounds for cattle have been encroached upon, which was not only causing environmental degradation but also a shortage of food,” Dr Kangharani said.

Also a member of the commission investigating Thar-drought deaths - formed on orders of the Sindh High Court – the development expert stated that two-third of the Sindh province was arid where river water could not reach. This was why the area’s habitants were dependant on annual rains for agriculture production.

Earlier, Thar’s economic system was run through barter trade, but after the war of 1970 the old barter system was replaced by cash economy causing immense livelihood challenges, he said.

Diet pattern of Thar’s people had become fragile, and as a result of the change in food consumption majority of people in Thar were suffering from malnourishment, Dr Kangharani added. He pointed out that for the past three years the grass in the area had not grown since all natural water depressions used to recharge wells had vanished.

Speaking on political ecology of hunger and malnutrition, senior economist Dr Aly Ercelan said the Sindh government was leasing out coastal lands to investors in the name of development.

“Zulfiqarabad is a scheme to grab public land and waters which will deeply affect the livelihood of fishermen,” he added.

Disposal of sewerage into the sea had polluted the water which had reduced the fish-catch. Internationally people had started resisting such development schemes of their respective governments, the economist stated.

He also cited examples of the first tribunal set up in Sri Lanka by common citizens against agrochemical companies, as well as the Hague-Monsanto Tribunal in which grassroots organisations proposed food sovereignty, agrarian reform and agro ecology as alternatives for healthy societies.

Nasir Ali Panhwar, executive director of Centre for Environment and Development, spoke on Food Security and Climate Change observing that around 900 million people were chronically hungry in Pakistan, whereas a record three billion people were globally stated to be malnourished.

In Pakistan, more than 60 percent of the rural population depended either directly or indirectly on the agriculture sector, Panhwar said, adding, that at present the agriculture system had made an estimated 40 percent of the country’s population economically marginalised and food insecure.

He pointed out that due to climate change water availability would reduce and would further go on to alter crop rotation and cropping patterns.

“Cereal production, wheat and rice as well as cotton production will reduce, whereas inland fisheries are also predicted to lessen due to decreased water availability and changing river flows.”

Panhwar added that 48 percent of rural households in Sindh were landless, while the highest incidence of landlessness stood at 62 percent in the entire province. “Poverty is on rise in the rural areas!”

He underlined the need to protect assets’ loss by increasing infrastructure investments, disseminating climate change information to and advisory services for agriculture based communities, setting up reliable and timely early warning systems as well as introducing innovative risk financing and insurance for the sector.

Head of Szabist’s Department of Social Sciences, Dr Riaz Shaikh and Piler joint director Zulfiqar Shah also spoke at the occasion.