Livestock Is Suffering The Most

Livestock, the mainstay of the arid zone's economy, is bearing the brunt of the current drought in Rajasthan and Gujarat. Media attention is focused largely on human misery caused by the shortage of drinking water, but the real problem in the calamity-hit areas is the scarcity of fodder that is killing animals and, in turn, depriving the people of their major source of livelihood. While the drinking water problem would be solved when the rains come, an economic recovery would take much longer.

Drought happens to be an integral part of the variable climate of this arid zone. Not only is the total annual rainfall low in this areas but the length of the rainy season is also short. Consequently, 19 of the past 36 years since 1964 have been rain-deficient years. The 1980s was the worst period, when eight years witnessed low precipitation. The 1990s, on the other hand, had only four low precipitation years.

 

The present drought is the result of the compounded effect of two, and in some pockets three, seasons of meagre rainfall. However, the deficiency was quite significant in some areas in 1999 _ 50 per cent in Barmer and Churu, 40 per cent in Bikaner and Sirohi, and 56 per cent in Jallore. Besides, the total monsoon season was reduced only to a few days last year. Jodhpur, for instance, received its first shower of the monsoon on July 19, 1999 and the last one on August 3.

This is one of the reasons for the socio-economic impact of this year's average-type drought to be far higher than the 1987 drought, which otherwise was much more severe.

The other reason is the increase of around 50 per cent in the human and cattle population in this region since 1987. The most alarming aspect is the rise, estimated at 200 per cent, in the number of buffaloes which need far higher quantities of fodder as well as water compared with cattle and the smaller animals like sheep and goats. The ravages of drought, coupled with high livestock pressure, is causing loss of vegetative cover and consequential soil erosion in the poorly structured and fragile soils of this region. This makes every successive drought more damaging than the previous one.

According to experts of the Jodhpur-based Central Arid Zone Research Institute (Cazri), fodder is in perpetual short supply in the desert zone of Rajasthan. Lot of greenery in the form of grasses and bushes comes up during the rainy season. But nobody cuts and preserves it. Sewan grass, one of the most nutritious and hardy grasses which can withstand several droughts in a row, grows abundantly in the Jaisalmer area. Though it dries up in summer, its roots remain alive and the grass comes up again when it rains. Since the density of livestock population is relatively low in Jaisalmer, huge surplus supplies of this grass are available during the monsoon season. If it could be harvested and stored in fodder banks, the lean season fodder scarcity could be mitigated to a large extent.

The long-term solution for alleviating the drought-related problems of the arid zones lies in changing the land use pattern. The bulk of the land has to be under perennial grasses, shrubs and trees to provide a more or less permanent soil cover. Such a silvi-pasture system would not only prevent further degradation of soil but also improve in situ conservation of rainwater in plant root zones and underground aquifers.

The cropping system in the arid zones, too, needs to be altered. The drought escaping crops that germinate quickly and bear flower and seeds in a relatively shorter span should be encouraged. Such crops include minor millets like common millets like Cheena (Panicum sp.), pearl millet, and arid legumes like moth bean and cluster bean.