Daily Times

KARACHI: The drought-like situation in Sindh’s Achro Thar desert has became more intense over the past few weeks due to insufficient precipitation.

The famine-like situation has resulted in the deaths of livestock and shortage of fodder. This has caused mass level migration to barrage areas. Since the local population is solely dependent on livestock for bread and butter, there is a looming threat of food shortage in the area as well.

However, there is a delay in the relief activities because the authorities have not yet declared the area ‘drought-hit’.

In union council (UC) Raanak Daher and UC Kamil Hingoro, the situation has became critical. “There are no calculated figures of livestock deaths since information gathering in the far-flung areas is an uphill task but hundreds of cattle have died. No government body has started to gather such figures yet,” Khuman Singh, a local social worker told Daily Times. “Due to shortage of fodder, people along with their cattle are moving towards nearby barrage areas of Hathungo, Khirpro, Chotiari, Rato Kot and elsewhere,” he added.

“With every day passing prices of food are also increasing especially in far-flung areas because an increase in transportation fares. It is feared that the prolonged drought will lead to a widespread scarcity of food,” said Singh.

The Achro Thar also known as the ‘white desert’ because of its scattered white dunes, is a vast desert in Sindh spanning over 4805 square kilometers (kms). The desert shares a border with the Great Indian Desert in the east, Sindh’s Thar Desert in the south and Punjab’s Cholistan Desert in the north.

Achro Thar is mainly located in Sanghar district with some parts in Khairpur district. The population of Achro Thar is approximately 45,000. This population is dispersed in nearly 175 settlements of UC Bilawal, UC Kamil Hingoro, UC Raanak Dahar, UC Baanko Chanio of Sanghar district and UC Kot Jubo of Khairpur district. Out of these UC’s Bilawal and Baanko Chanio are partially barrage areas.

A vast area of Achro Thar is infertile so the economy of the area largely depends on livestock rearing. With estimated two-million livestock, the area is a major supplier of live animals, meat and animal skins to Karachi from where they are transported to other parts of the country.

According to Met Department, between mid-June to July this season, there were sporadic rains in some areas of Achro Thar. “Rains hit some parts of Achro Thar in last days of June and first days of July. So far this monsoon season, 5 millimeters (mm) of rain mostly fell in the UC Raanak Dahar area of the desert,” a Met Department official told Daily Times. “For an area to be declared ‘out of drought’ though , there needs to be 100 mm of in one monsoon season (before August 15),” he added.

Traditionally, August 15 is the set deadline for useful monsoon cycle. Since the British Raj, authorities have declared ‘drought’ in the absence of rain till the deadline. Rains are crucial to ground water recharge. “Ground water is vital for drinking water purposes as 75 percent population is estimated to be dependent on traditional water wells,” said Sindh. “With no rains in last four years time, except last year when 116 mm of rain was recorded, the ground water level has also gone down. This means people are prone to drinking water deficiency too,” he added.

Singh explained that even though there was no large-scale agriculture on rain water, the rain water helped preserve the grassy fields in which the livestock grazed.

Last month’s light showers resulted in the growth of grass in the area but the grass dried up in the absence of follow-up rains. Following the scant rains, people from other parts of the desert thronged in to UC Raanak Dhar with their livestock. This caused the spread of animal diseases.

“Besides fodder we are in dire need of livestock vaccination here need” said Khuman Singh.

Even though the monsoon deadline has passed, the authorities have not yet declared Achro Thar a calamity hit area. This has caused a delay in the much-needed relief efforts. Sanghar Deputy Commissioner Liaquat Ali Bhatti told Daily Times said that he did not write to the higher authorities to declare Achro Thar a drought-hit area since he had not receive any complaints yet. “I will send a team to area for loss assessment soon. On the basis of report, I will write to senior member of the Sindh Board of Revenue (BOR) to declare Achro Thar as a drought-hit area,” he added. Bhatti shared that relief camps would be established in the area based on the findings of the loss assessment report.

Published in Daily Times, August 19^th 2018.