IT is rightly said that all that glitters is neither gold nor all that looks waste is useless. A thing of beauty may be a joy forever but practically of no or least avail to human beings. And things that appear repulsive maybe of immense value to us.
Similarly, a dung cake, which everyone looks at with disgust, is a thing of great value for a large section of the poor population in the rural areas. Believe me or not, it is their need. One may have seen hundreds of times females making dung cakes in an open yards and pasting it on walls, roofs and the ground to dry. Their hands are covered with it but there is no sign of repulsion their faces. The dung cake is of great importance for them. It not only serves as a useful source of energy for domestic needs, but also helps in the conservation of forests.
It is a means of livelihood for a number of families. I, like many others, did not evaluate its importance until I was exposed to what usefulness it had for that section of population — the poor and the have-nots. I was engaged in a research project that explored two factors — its usefulness and the female labour put in its making. Nearly all the human labour involved in its making is provided by the females, mostly of younger ages.
The making of a dung cake entails a three-fold process. It is made of cattle waste usually collected within 10 to 12 hours. The research showed that females, from small girls to old women, are engaged in collection of waste from barns.
“I send the girls early in the morning to collect the animal waste from the barns,” I was told by an old lady. “Though it is a laborious task for them, they obey my orders.”
“Does an educated girl do the job of making dung cakes?” I asked her.
“No way. She does not touch it. We who are involved in it are all illiterate,” she said.
According to her, they collect the waste from the nearby barns in buckets, early in the morning and store them in open yards specially meant for it. They do it when free from other household duties. It takes about two to three hours of labour for a female to complete her portion of the job. Grownup female, with their experience, are usually good and faster at this job than young girls.
The cakes are designed with hands and placed outside to dry in the sunlight. It takes two to three days before the stuff is completely dry and ready to be burnt. The purpose of the making of the dung cake is two-fold. It is made for the personal use of the household or as a source of livelihood by the household by selling them in markets. “They are sold like hot cakes in the rural and in semi-urban areas. Majority of the households in those areas use dung cakes for domestic needs,” I was told by a man. Those who do not want or cannot make it themselves, but need it, buy bags of dung cakes. And those selling them take the orders and bring them to the customers’ houses in carts and camel/horseback.
The main use of dung cake is as a source of energy. It is used in everyday life for cooking by poor families in the rural areas. “The use of kerosene as a source of energy is very expensive. Therefore, we depend on dung cakes,” said a housewife. Majority of the rural households in Pakistan are without gas supply. A good number of them do not have electricity, and even if they do, the use of electricity as the source of energy for the household is too expensive. Dung cake is cheaper to use for cooking and heating, and in many cases it was mixed with wood. “When dung cake is mixed with wood, it burns well,” said a household head.
The use of dung cake promotes conservation. According to the research, the populace of the areas lacking gas supply for domestic use, as is common in the far-flung areas, are engaged in cutting off trees and its branches for the domestic energy consumption. It was observed that in the areas without gas facilities where the use of dung cake was higher, the damage to the conservation was lesser.
“A major threat to the conservation of forest comes from the down-trodden section of population without basic facilities to cook and heat,” a forest officer said. To him, no matter what precautions measures the forest department might take, as long as there are no subsidies available to people, they will cut down branches and trees. He, however, agreed that the use of dung cakes for cooking and heating reduces the dependence on forest wood as a source of energy and, thus, conservation is promoted.
People living in urban areas know little about it. To an educated man, the process of its making may appear uncivilized. To some, it may even be the violation of human rights on the part of those whose labour is put in making it. But the fact remains that a larger section of our society, living in villages and remote areas have a basic need for it.
IT is rightly said that all that glitters is neither gold nor all that looks waste is useless. A thing of beauty may be a joy forever but practically of no or least avail to human beings. And things that appear repulsive maybe of immense value to us.
