A Descriptive Analysis of Household Strategies of Nomad Pastoralists under Ecological stress: (A case Study of Cholistan Desert) (original) (raw)
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Role of Economy as Social Institution in Cholistan Desert
Journal of Economic Impact
Cholistan is the second largest desert of Pakistan with semi-nomadic culture. Based on its landscape, Cholistan is divided into two parts, i.e., Greater and Lesser Cholistan. This study review highlights the economic activities of native people of Cholistan, challenges faced by people and ways to improve the economic standard of native people. Due to its rough terrain, Cholistan is hardly accessible from outside except specialized vehicles. The entire Cholistan is the least populated area and the existing population is scattered among sand dunes. Cholistan is deprived of socio-economic development and hence there is a lack of basic amenities of life such as drinking water, food, education, healthcare and housing. Due to the scarcity of irrigation water and the landscape of Cholistan, there is hardly any possibility of agri-farming and production grains for livelihood. Animal herds are a major source of livelihood and sustenance for the people of Cholistan. Local people own larger he...
2012
The area of Cholistan Desert is 2.6 million hectares. The length of the desert is about 480 km and breadth ranges between 32 and 192 km. Human and livestock population in the desert is 0.1 and 2.0 millions respectively. There is no river or canal flowing through the desert area. The desert area falls under hyper-arid climate. The main land use of the area is livestock rearing. The agricultural farming is not practiced due to non-availability of irrigation water and low rainfall. More than 81% area of the desert is under small and big sand dunes. While 19% area is consisting of alluvial flats and sand hummocks. The area is affected with severe to very severe desertification caused due to poor vegetation cover, severe wind erosion and very severe soil salinity. The grazing of livestock is uncontrolled, therefore, the pastures are overgrazed. The Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources has converted the severe desertified land into productive land as a model on more than one hundred hectares in Cholistan through sand dunes fixation and stabilization by mechanical and vegetative means. The area once desertified is now under fully secured from desertification and its micro-climate has been improved into pleasant and friendly environment. 1.
PROSPECTIVE OF DAIRY FARMING IN CHOLISTAN
The Cholistan Desert, once a prosperous, lively, and thriving jungle is now by and large a desolated piece of land. Its productivity potential is on the decline despite the fact that the number of animals in this desert is on the increase. The Cholistan desert is located in southern Punjab extending through the Nara and Thar deserts of Sindh (Pakistan) between latitudes 27o 42 and 29′o 45 N and longitudes 69′o 52 and 75′o 24 E, covering about 2.6 million hectares. It supports a human population of 110,000 pastoral nomads depending exclusively upon livestock for their livelihood. To address the rising demand for milk and milk products, the large stake holders of dairy industry are looking to boost the milk collection area and want to bring remote areas in their milk collection chain. In this view, Cholistan is of great importance as it has great potential for dairy farming. A large population of cholistani cow, camels and jattal breed of goat, are present in this area, can produce a large quantity of milk for country. By working on the different natural vegetation, this desert can be a great pasture for the dairy animals. After the monsoon, the herds of dairy animals from the nearby urban areas like Yazman, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, and Rahim Yar khan migrate to the cholistani areas for grazing. There is need of time to establish a proper dairy industry in Cholistan. By providing technical and market facilities to the local farmers in Cholistan help to achieve this task. Dairy faming not only provides the livelihood and food to the peoples of cholistan but also help to meet the food need of whole country.
Natural Resources and Their Utilization, with Special Reference to Cholistan Desert, Pakistan
2004
Cholistan desert is a vast area that is mainly used as grazing ground and is endowed with a variety of natural resources. The local inhabitants are mostly nomads, leading pastoral way of life, with a few (two or three) permanent settlements in the whole desert. The main source of earning is rearing of livestock, while for livelihood they mostly depend upon whatever nature can provide them from the surroundings. Being unaware about the way they can properly use the natural resources, they usually extract the God-given commodity without any check, and unknowingly harm the ecosystem. In the present article we use the interviewing technique to know the views of the local inhabitants about a specific natural source. Through the present study, it has come to light that the knowledge of local dwellers about natural resources varied according to their need and occupation. For example, hunters have more knowledge about the wildlife behavior than those who earn through rearing of livestock. T...
Role of Tobas (Water Bodies) in Ethno-Ecology and Pastoralism in the Cholistan Desert of Pakistan
Abasyn Journal of Social Sciences, 2018
Water affect vegetation pattern of dry lands. The present study was designed to study the vegetation of Cholistan desert along moisture gradients. In Cholistan desert rainwater is collected in manmade ponds locally known as Toba (water body/pond in english). These Toba's are source of drinking water for human as well as cattles. Qualitative and Quantitative characteristics of species were measured using quadrat method in the vicinity of ponds (Toba's). A total of 4800 different sized quadrats were used for measuring density, frequency, cover and other qualitative attributes of trees, shrubs and herbs around 100 ponds (Toba's). Preliminary results showed the presence of 49 plant species belonging to 25 families around these ponds. Poaceae is dominant family with 12 species. Dominant species include Capparis deciduas, Salsola imbricata, Cenchrus ciliaris. While rare species include Dalbergia sisso, Abutilon indicum, Heliotropium strigosum. Results revealed that moisture gradient have pronounced effect on distribution of vegetation up to distance of 100 m. Vegetation goes on decline with increase in distance from water bodies. Herbs and trees are most abundant along the boundary of water body while number of shrubs is increasing with increase of distance from water body. The palatable species present in vicinity of Toba is on decline due to over grazing. It is recommended to introduce new palatable species near to the Tobas that can flourish in monsoon season to provide fodder for cattle. Such introduction of ethno-ecologically important plant species for pastoralism can be helpful for reducing grazing pressure on few of the available browsed species. This study will provide a baseline for other studies in the field of ecology, ethnobotany, pastoralism, hydrobiology etc. Introduction Cholistan is a vast desert in southern part of Bahawalpur division of Punjab province in Pakistan. 8% of total land area of Punjab is covered by Cholistan desert and two third of Bahawalpur civil division. Cholistan desert extends over an area of 26000 2 km between 27°42ʹN and 29°45ʹN latitude and 69°52ʹE and 75°24ʹE longitude having an altitude of about 112 m above sea level. It is located in south of Bahawalpur in Punjab extending up to Nara and Thar deserts of Sindh (Akhter and Arshad, 2006). It is unable to fulfill the water needs of local people and their livestock. Ground water is very deep and brackish and cannot be used even for livestock, therefore rainfall is main source of water. The average rainfall is about 166 mm. At many localities in desert runoff is high during normal rainfall events. The rainwater is collected in manmade ponds locally known as " Toba ". These Tobas are not constructed according to any scientifically approved design. These Tobas are generally made on " dahars " i.e compact soil patches. Seepage in these tobas is negligible than the evaporation due to high temperature. About 1500 tobas have been constructed by local people in Cholistan area (Ahmad et al., 2008) but now less than 500 are in running condition due to ordinary design of Tobas. These tobas are source of water to livestock in wet season and dictates the mass movement of livestock from one Toba to another (CDA, 2006). Water lasts just for 3-4 months in these Tobas due to high temperature, seepage and heavy storms in summer season. Storage capacity of Tobas is reducing rapidly due to siltation especially during monsoon season (PCRWR, 2004). Cholistani pastoralists move over long distances in desert in search of good pastures and water. Quality and quantity of water in tobas is factor behind their migration. The better the quality/quantity of water longer the stay of nomads at that toba. There are no hard and specific rules for migration. Pastoralists start to move towards the lesser Cholistan from the mid of February as forage starts to decline around the tobas in Greater Cholistan desert due to increase in grazing pressure. Ethnoecology is the study of how people manipulate and use the resources in the environment. While pastoralism is the branch of agriculture related to livestock rearing. As in the Cholistan desert whole economy depends on earning from livestock and due to absence of basic facilities of health and food the have to depend on local resources of desert. The present study was designed with an aim to determine the role of tobas (water bodies) on pastoral life style in the Cholistan desert. The particular objectives of the study were to analyze the
Crafts of Cholistan (Bahawalpur Punjab Pakistan)
Cholistan is locally known as Rohi.This famous desert is 30 km from Bahawalpur. East of Bahawalpur is the Cholistan Desert which covers an area of about 15,000 km and extends into the Thar Desert of India. The region was once watered by the Hakra River, known as the Saravati in vedic times. At one time there were 400 forts in the area and archaeological finds around the Derawar Fort, the only place with a perennial waterhole, indicate that it was contemporaneous with the Indus Valley Civilization. The average annual rainfall is only 12 cm, and the area's scant cultivation is made possible by underground wells, drawn up by camels. The water is stored in troughs, built by the tribes, between sandhills and din waterholes called tobas. The people are racially similar to those in Rajasthan - tall, with sharp features. They live in large, round, mud and grass huts, usually built on the top of sandhills. On the whole, they are pastoral and nomadic.
To Assess the Trends of Living and Poverty in a Desert Climate
Water Conservation and Management
Pakistan is a developing country having about 17.2% of the population below poverty line and its economy mainly depends on agriculture. Cholistan desert is one of the areas with extreme dry weather conditions in the country, well known for wide spread geographical area with large not in use lands. The population belongs to the poorest areas of the province with projected population of 0.185 million up to 2015. In this study a survey of 17 villages was conducted to gather information regarding population and their economic condition. Poverty status in the area with reference to the International Monetary Fund and Bureau of Statistics of Pakistan has been assessed with inflation rate up to year 2014. The average family size of the area is 6.6 and per capita income per month was PKRs.2309, so the Official Poverty Line came out as PKRs. 15,124 per household per month. During the field survey of the targeted 17 villages, it was observed that 95% of targeted population was below the poverty. On the other hand, the rest of only 5% fall above the poverty line as their earning was above PKRs. 15,124 per month. Income of 100 percent population was below US$ 1.00 per day. Livestock is the main source of income of the targeted community, but they were unable to use it in full potential because of unavailability of water. On the other hand, the off farm income was very low due to scarcity of resources & employment opportunities. People neither able to get a proper livelihood in their settlements nor ready to leave desert area because livestock rearing is their major occupation which is depending on "Tobas" and grazing land.
EDAPHIC FACTORS AND DISTRIBUTION OF VEGETATION IN THE CHOLISTAN DESERT, PAKISTAN
2008
Relationship of soil characteristics with vegetation was evaluated for determing the most effective parameters responsible in the distribution of vegetation types in rangelands of the Cholistan desert. Soils of different vegetation types were analyzed for salinity, organic matter, moisture content and ionic concentration (Na, K, P). Vegetation types were analyzed for density, frequency, cover and importance value index. The association of certain plant species to certain soil types was common indicating the influence of chemical composition of the soils. The result showed marked important relationships between soil characteristics and plant species. Suaeda fruticosa and Haloxylon recurvum the high salinity levels and low organic matter. Calligonum polygonoides, Aerva javanica, Dipterygium glaucum, Capparis deciduas and Haloxylon salicornicum indicated better organic matter, low salinities and Na + concentration and Na/K ratio. Ecological characteristics, responsible for plant distribution in Cholistan desert seem to be salinity, organic matter and ionic concentration.