Pakistan - Balochistan battles a drought

By Hanif Dilmurad

An acute of shortage of water and fast dropping levels of subsoil water because of a prolonged dry spell in Balochistan have destroyed livestock and agriculture in the province, experts say.

Eighty percent of the province’s population lives in rural areas and depends on agriculture and cattle farming. The dry spell that has persisted since 2013.

In Khuzdar district, subsoil water was about 200 feet below the ground a year and a half ago, but had dropped to 800 to 1,000 by January this year, according to a study by Azat Foundation, an independent research organization based in Noshki.

Thousands of families from the worst hit areas – Khuzdar, Noshki, Washuk, Sibi and Kharan – have migrated to other districts because of the drought, locals say. The problem is so severe in some parts of the province that even the schools have been closed down because of large-scale emigration, they say.

In Sibi, residents of 24 villages in the Malgishkor area have migrated to Urban centers.

According to Azat Foundation, eighteen district in the province – Zhob (Kamardinkarez belt), Sibi, Dera Bugti, Kohlu, Pishin, Kachi, Qilla Saiffullah, Qilla Abdullah, Noshki, Awaran, Kharan, Washuk, Chaghi, Quetta, Mastung, Lasbela, Kech, Kalat and Khuzdar – are on the red line.

An escalating food shortage in the affected areas has led to rising food inflation. It is also getting increasingly hard to find green fodder for the livestock, and dry animal feed is causing oral diseases and viral infections. Dr Ismail, director of the Livestock Department in Noshki, says goats and sheep are especially prone to viral diseases, and Hepatitis and Tuberculosis are also affecting people. “If the government does not provide medicine on an urgent basis, thousands of animals will perish,” the report warns.

There are five small rivers in the Khuzdar district, but no dams
Noshki was yet to come out of the dry spell that hit the province between 1997 and 2003. “A shortage of drinking water and vegetation in Mall, Daak, Anambostan and Keshingi has hurt the health of cattle,” says the report. “Milk production has declined, which has implications on the nutritional status and income levels of the households in these areas.”

“The drought has shattered people’s dreams of earning from their livestock again this year,” said Parveen Naz Baloch, a program officer with Action Aid. Thousands of animals have already died because of the shortage of water, she said. Experts say each household has lost up to 10 animals so far, and with everyone trying to sell their animals, livestock prices have fallen.

The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) says 29 of the 32 districts of Balochistan have received very little rain. “After the dangerous spell of drought from 1997 to 2003, the province of Balochistan is passing through another developing drought affecting livestock, agriculture and the overall economic scenario of the province,” said a press statement by Chief Minister Abdul Malik Baloch in October last year. “Initially, the government of Balochistan is pleased to allocate Rs 1 billion to the PDMA to meet the food requirements, especially covering the livestock sector and food packages for the victims of the drought.”

Zahid Ahmed Mengal, executive director of Azat Foundation, said the promised money did not seem to have materialized. “It is the need of the hour to take measures on an immediate and urgent basis to cope with the crisis,” he said.

Sultan Shawani, the provincial coordinator of Pakistan Kisan Ittehad – an alliance of farmers – said there were five small rivers in the Khuzdar district, “but since we do not have any water reservoirs, about 300,000 cusecs of water flows into the sea.”

Dr Qasim Kakar from the Agriculture Training Institute of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Cooperatives said the Balochistan government was working on a project to construct 200 dams to store water. “It will be a permanent solution,” he said.

Meanwhile, the PDMA says it is making an effort on its own. “We signed an agreement with the UNDP to carry out an assessment in 12 districts of Balochistan to find out the causes of drought,” said Asghar Ramzan, director of administration. “Then, the provincial government will work to resolve the issue permanently.”

Although rainfall has been low, the alarming figures were exaggerated, he said. “The drought could not have come rapidly.” He said it was true that people have migrated and animals have died, “but number of dead animals is not in the thousands, it is in the hundreds”.