MITHI: The recent rainfall in Tharparkar has sent a wave of happiness across the desert region with optimism for prosperity reigning supreme, but impediments to their ambitious plans to avail the very first farming opportunity seem to have been overshadowed by other stakeholders, mainly the district administration and greedy traders.

The first rainfall of the current summer in the region last week drew a large number of peasant families to their native villages months after they had migrated from their abodes, owing to a drought-like situation, to other areas for livelihood.

Caravans of homeward bound Thari families and their animals are a common sight these days.

Tharparkar Deputy Com­m­issio­ner Dr Abdul Hafeez Siyal felt it necessary to remind Tharis of the longstanding ban on cultivation. Addressing a public gathering in Nagarparkar town on Monday, he gave a strong warning against violation of the ban.

He told the audience that he had already issued strict orders to his subordinate revenue officials and police to ensure that no one was using grazing fields [locally called gunchar] or sandy dunes [locally called bhit] for cultivating any crop.

Revenue officials and police have been told to get any crop found grown on such lands bulldozed, according to the deputy commissioner.

He said the revenue staff escorted by police would monitor and visit all such lands and take swift action against violators of the ban.

He said he himself along with Tharparkar SSP Ameer Saud Magsi would supervise the operation.

Speaking to Dawn, DC Siyal defended the ban arguing that the lands in question were meant for fodder growth so that Tharis’ animals could survive.

He said livestock and animal rearing was the mainstay of local population and a common livelihood. These lands must remain uncultivated, he added.

The DC urged elected representatives and various NGOs to report such illegal activities to the district administration.

Ban ‘for the benefit of the people’

“Our efforts are for the benefit of the general public,” said Dr Siyal. He expressed the hope that the region would get sufficient rains this year to rid its people of the prevailing drought-like situation.

SSP Magsi told Dawn over phone that he had already directed all SHOs in the district to take action against violators of the ban.

Legal farming also made difficult

Peasants who have prepared their lands and are ready for sowing the traditional crops like cluster bean and barley have complained that the rates of seeds in the local markets had suddenly shot up.

Some of the perturbed peasants, speaking to Dawn, blamed the trend on greedy traders and wondered why the rates had been doubled with the first showers of the season.

They urged the authorities concerned to pay attention to the issue and take profiteers to task.

They said it was responsibility of the authorities concerned to ensure that seeds and farm implements were available in markets at reasonable rates.

‘Senseless’ practices

Activists of various public welfare organisations have drawn the attention of the district administration to the use of tractors in farming, arguing that it was a senseless practice as use of such vehicles was bound to destroy small plants and fertile layers of land.

Kirshan Sharma, Partab Shivani, Bharumal Amrani and others said awareness of the healthy farming practices was required to be created by the relevant departments.

They called for introducing new varieties of seeds of traditional crops to help farmers get better yield. They suggested that in view of the devastating effects of climate change on the Thar region, hybrid seeds of crops, trees and fodder be imported.

They were of the view that the region still needed four to five spells of heavy rains with an interval of 10-15 days to cope with the drought-like situation.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2017