Helping Communities Revive Agriculture in Southern Pakistan
By Chris Menist
Travelling through the bumpy roads that criss- cross the Sindh landscape, as acres of scrub bushes peter out into arid desert, one is hit by several factors that make up this unique province of southern Pakistan. One is the religious and social make up of the local people. Although Islam is the national religion, there are significant Christian and Hindu minority communities, particularly in this region.
After partition many Hindu families were simply too poor to make the journey across the border to India, and remained in this toughest of terrains, becoming synonymous with disenfranchisement and difficult tenancies, often under cruel and indifferent land owners. On the whole, although they happily live alongside their Muslim neighbours, Hindu villages have less amenities, limited access to water, electricity and education, not least because they have no representation at a local or national level.
Driving to and from Naukot, where the next phase of the Food Security Project will take place, the roadside is thronged with Hindu worshippers holding aloft red and white flags, carrying hefty looking ‘maypoles’ festooned with coloured cloth and tinsel, and in some instances, gathering round portable shrines on wheels, representing the saint Pir Rama. Though specifically Hindu as the name would suggest, the saint is also held in esteem by many Muslims, especially Sufis.
Women in rural Sindh help cultivate crops where ongoing
food insecurity threatens stability of families. CWS–P/A initiated a project
to support over a 1, 000 families by providing training, seeds and tools.
The social backdrop to this area contains a vicious feudalism that can affect any community, regardless of their religious persuasion, and can keep entire extended families in bonded labour for generations. One man, I was told about has spent twenty years working off an initial loan of just 1,000 PKR. (around $18US). Pakistan is the only country in the world to have never properly instigated land reforms, despite some efforts taken over the last century.
This season has seen plenty of rain, so cultivated land has produced a good crop of sugar cane, rice, cotton and other staples of the region. But this is the land that has access to proper irrigation however, for those places where the water channels are inadequate or where the water supply has been tampered with, growing anything is nearly impossible. Also, the high level of salinity in the water table can additionally interfere with cultivation.
In one village, Dahani Bux, once fertile farmland has been reduced to scrub because of a land dispute and thus has resulted in irrigation water being shut off from the near by canal. It is now a mostly deserted place, comprising of only six households of the Khosa family. Most of the empty houses are damaged due to heavy rainfalls. When we arrived, a thin man with a drawn expression, Khalid Hussein, informed us that many of the villagers have migrated due to heavy monsoon rainfalls, floods and lack of access to drinking water. The quietness underlined the somewhat grim and desolate atmosphere. Assorted broken charpais (beds) were strewn around one part of the village, and a couple of wirey goats were tethered under a tree.
Chatting with Mr. Hussein in a small shelter that kept off the persistent sunshine, an all too common tale started to emerge. Although the village had been in existence for roughly thirty years, and had traditionally been able to grow the staple crops of the area, cotton, sugar cane, wheat and vegetables, the landlord, with help of a police official, turned off the water channels in an attempt to make the villagers leave the land under his control. However, the community filed a case against him which they eventually won. The people own more than 12 acres of land yet, after seven years with no water, are unable to cultivate anything. The families that remain are earning a meager living through cutting down the scrub bushes and selling them for firewood. From this, they have a poor diet, the only vegetable content being onions and chillies. Occasionally, when money allows, further provisions are bought from the nearby town, using a donkey and cart, their only means of transport. Education opportunities are also limited, with only the boys of Dahani Bux sometimes attending the school in the next village.
Even for those who are not facing such acute problems, they could be tenant farmers who might only be paid a percentage of the crop yield, or due to debts, have to give over the brunt of their crops to the landowner. In a drought period these problems are doubled leading to migration and serious poverty. Economic opportunities are slim in this part of Sindh, with people either working in agriculture or as daily wage earners in urban centers. For farmers, under such conditions, economic stability can be difficult to attain.
People can, and do, migrate, but often end up in similar circumstances elsewhere in the region. There’s also the issue that, having lived here all this time, the villagers of Dahani Bux rightly feel that they can’t be turned off their land at the whim of an individual. Despite the obvious hardships, Mr. Hussein is determined to stay.
CWS-P/A in partnership with LSRDA has started a food security project in Jhudo Tehsil. Currently, there is an ongoing baseline survey, undertaken by our partner Lower Sindh Rural Development Association (LSRDA), to assess who are the most vulnerable families. At this level, motivating communities to engage and provide required information can be an issue. After nearly a decade of hardship, fostering optimism can be a risk. The project will support the local community in distribution and plantation of bair plants, provision of seeds, improved irrigation system and also helping them by creating linkages with other stakeholders. Farmers will also be given relevant training to improve the overall livelihood and fulfilling the nutritional requirements of the beneficiaries. This is not merely about supporting agricultural activities, but the revitalisation of an entire community.
Standing in -front of vibrant mustard field is a recipient of CWS-P/A’s
‘Food Security’ project. The project provides not only seeds and tools but also
proper irrigation to increase the annual yield of crops such as
mustard, sugarcane, cotton and rice.
Occasionally, when money allows, further provisions are bought from the nearby town, using a donkey and cart, their only means of transport. Education opportunities are also limited, with only the boys of Dahani Bux sometimes attending the school in the next village.
Even for those who are not facing such acute problems, they could be tenant farmers who might only be paid a percentage of the crop yield, or due to debts, have to give over the brunt of their crops to the landowner. In a drought period these problems are doubled leading to migration and serious poverty. Economic opportunities are slim in this part of Sindh, with people either working in agriculture or as daily wage earners in urban centers. For farmers, under such conditions, economic stability can be difficult to attain.
People can, and do, migrate, but often end up in similar circumstances elsewhere in the region. There’s also the issue that, having lived here all this time, the villagers of Dahani Bux rightly feel that they can’t be turned off their land at the whim of an individual. Despite the obvious hardships, Mr. Hussein is determined to stay.
CWS-P/A in partnership with LSRDA has started a food security project in Jhudo Tehsil. Currently, there is an ongoing baseline survey, undertaken by our partner Lower Sindh Rural Development Association (LSRDA), to assess who are the most vulnerable families. At this level, motivating communities to engage and provide required information can be an issue. After nearly a decade of hardship, fostering optimism can be a risk. The project will support the local community in distribution and plantation of bair plants, provision of seeds, improved irrigation system and also helping them by creating linkages with other stakeholders. Farmers will also be given relevant training to improve the overall livelihood and fulfilling the nutritional requirements of the beneficiaries. This is not merely about supporting agricultural activities, but the revitalisation of an entire community.
