Comment by Riaz Haq on September 4, 2019 at 1:03pm

#Thar #Pakistan In pictures: Thar residents rejoice after rains turn desert green. Many Thar residents who had migrated due to shortage of water have returned. #RAIN https://www.dawn.com/news/1503143

The arid Thar desert has turned verdant after much-needed spells of rain fertilised the soil.

Many Thar residents, who had migrated to other pastures with their livestock or to earn livelihood due to a shortage of water, have returned to their villages in order to plant crops and resume cattle farming.

Following are some pictures of the desert after recent showers.

The arid Thar desert has turned verdant after much-needed spells of rain fertilised the soil.

Many Thar residents, who had migrated to other pastures with their livestock or to earn livelihood due to a shortage of water, have returned to their villages in order to plant crops and resume cattle farming.

Following are some pictures of the desert after recent showers.

The remarkable Karoonjhar hills turn green after rain in Thar. — Photo by author

A breathtaking view of Karoonjhar hills in Thar. — Photo by author

Residents spend their day out after rain in the desert. — Photo by author

A Rohiro tree in full bloom after the recent spell of rain. — Photo by author

Trees and shrubs grow outside and ancient Hindu temple in Churio area of Nagarparkar. — Photo by author

Pearl millet (bajra) crops in a field in Thar. — Photo by author

A farmer removes weeds from his farm. — Photo by author

Comment by Riaz Haq on February 26, 2020 at 11:00am

Thar starts producing fruit grown through bio-saline agriculture techniques


https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/606969-thar-starts-producing-frui...

After the successful experiments of growing regular crops with the help of bio-saline agriculture techniques, the water-scarce region of Tharparkar has now produced apple ber.

The spokesman of Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) informed here Friday that the company and its welfare arm Thar Foundation developed the orchard of apple ber under a pilot project.

According to him, the fruits have started growing ripe within one year of cultivation after Thar Foundation planted apple ber over an area of 10 acres in Thar Coal Block II of Islamkot, Tharparkar.

He told that the experiment was part of the bio-saline agriculture by utilizing underground water of third aquifer pumped out from a depth of approximately 200 meters.

"These Ber trees were provided water of up to 3500 ppm TDS under technical support provided by Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) where 120 trees were planted per acre," he said.

"Within one year, these plants have started yielding fruits and every tree has yielded average 5 to 7 kilograms of apples," he added.

The 120 trees on an acre could earn around Rs.35,000 to 40,000 in the first harvest, said Umair Aslam Butt, Incharge of the Thar Green Initiative and Manager Health, Safety and Environment at SECMC.

He said the current market price of apple ber was Rs.2,200 per 40 kilogram.

"This demonstrates the tremendous economic potential of bio-saline orchards in Tharparkar," he underscored but explained that in order to yield desired fruits for the initiative the underground saline water bearing 5,500 TDS was mixed with waste water in a dilution water reservoir, leading the accumulated number to 3500 TDS.

"For effective utilization of water, drip Irrigation and water sprinklers were used to conserve water as compared to traditional irrigation techniques," he explained further.

Syed Murtaza Azhar Rizvi, Director Site Operations SECMC, said the project results had motivated the company to expand the bio-saline interventions in Thar as growing Apple Ber on saline water itself was evident that Thar holds growth potential of bio-saline orchards.

Rizvi said considering the water scarcity in the region conventional farming dependency on rainwater could be replaced by available saline water to provide a livelihood for local farmers.

He told that the project demonstrated tremendous economic and nutritional potential of bio-saline orchards across the Tharparkar region, eventually benefiting communities nutritionally and economically.

He advised the Sindh Government Sindh to come forward by introducing cooperative farming and offering subsidized solarized agriculture equipment and machinery along with soft loans to the local farmers.

Comment by Riaz Haq on February 26, 2020 at 11:01am

Water Supply Line For Villages Of Achhro Thar Desert Inaugurated

https://www.urdupoint.com/en/pakistan/water-supply-line-for-village...

The second phase of water supply project for 'Achchro Thar' has been inaugurated on Wednesday that would provide clean drinking water to 16 villages of the scarcely inhabited desert area of Sanghar and Umerkot districts

The 28 kilometer long water supply line would supply clean drinking water to more than 6000 population of desert area on daily basis.More than 14 water reservoirs- each having storage capacity of 12 thousand gallons- have been built in different villages under the USAID funded project being executed by Sindh Public Health Engineering department.

Each plant is also equipped with solar power system to ensure uninterrupted supply.

Comment by Riaz Haq on April 16, 2020 at 7:42pm

Spotlight: CPEC mine project proves to be oasis in desert for underprivileged people in Pakistan's Thar region

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-04/10/c_137965626.htm

Pakistan's Thar Coal Mining Block II project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has helped improve rural people's livelihood in the Thar district of the country's southern Sindh province by offering business opportunities, jobs as well as healthcare and education.

The project was launched in April 2016 in Thar district with an aim to tackle energy deficiency by generating electricity through coal.

A joint venture was formed under the project between China Machinery Engineering Corporation, the Sindh government and Pakistani private companies. Recently, a pit-mouth coal-fired power plant in the project was tested and energized both of its units of 330MW.

Initial estimates of the Thar coalfield block II revealed that the reserve has approximately 2.4 billion tons of coal resources.

Echoing a famous saying among local people that "Thar will change Pakistan," many local economists believe that CPEC will be the game changer for the Pakistani economy.

It is believed that the coal mine project would not only alleviate the energy hunger of Pakistan, but also bring prosperity to the country, particularly in Thar region.

Thar is one of the hottest areas in the country where mercury rises over 50 Celsius degrees in summer. The occupation of majority of the population are animal husbandry and agriculture, but due to absence of rain in the subtropical region, both professions become very challenging for locals.

Safoora Bibi cooks over 20 kg of food with her two assistants everyday, and people from the project transport the food to local workers at the project site. Bibi is happy that she earns a good sum of money by staying at home and doing the job she loves.

Bibi has a daughter who is studying English. By working as a caterer for the project, Bibi is hopeful that she will be able to send her daughter to a good university in the provincial capital of Karachi and get a good job in the future.

Raj Kumar, assistant manager of Small and Medium Enterprise with the project owner Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC), told Xinhua that they provided training to Bibi and her assistants from a professional chef, and signed a contract of 3 million rupees (about 21,000 U.S. dollars) with Bibi, and they are planning to further expand Bibi's business as she is a diligent worker.

Meanwhile, the development of the project has brought tremendous improvement in the education sector of the region. Since the launch of the coal mine project, 12 schools including three with a capacity of 900 students each and nine with a capacity of 180 students each have been built in the remote village of Thar, where the literacy level was traditionally low.

Ashok Bakhtani, assistant manager of Corporate Social Responsibility (SCR) under the Thar coal mine project, said they are providing free education to some 2,300 children from nearby villages, and all the teachers are local women.

"The boys and girls are now the 'radiance' of the schools built under CPEC. Now they come to school everyday to learn languages, science, arts, math, history and social mannerism," said Bakhtani.

Sankar, a worker in one of the schools, said he used to work as a laborer in the village and sometimes his family had to sleep hungry because he could not make enough money to feed them. Now both he and his wife work in the school and have good income every month.

"I couldn't afford to send my son to school earlier, but now he is studying free of cost here. Now we can eat to our full and buy clothes whenever we want," he said.

Comment by Riaz Haq on April 16, 2020 at 7:43pm

Spotlight: CPEC mine project proves to be oasis in desert for underprivileged people in Pakistan's Thar region (contd)

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-04/10/c_137965626.htm

Under the project, a medical center was also launched where locals are provided with free medical facilities. A pediatric, a gynecologist and a general physician provide free medical check ups to locals. Tests and laboratory examinations are also provided in the hospital free of charge.

Fehmida, the gynecologist in the hospital told Xinhua that people's perspective about healthcare has changed a lot since the hospital was built.

"Initially people resorted to self-medication for every disease. Taking pregnant women to hospital was not a general practice of the local community as they would rely more on village mid-wives, due to which the number of mother and neonatal mortality was high, but after we started medical center here, number of pregnant women visiting the hospital increased greatly."

Clean drinking water is also a major issue for locals, as there used to be only a few wells in the area. Women used to walk a long distance every day to fetch drinking water in temperature as high as 50 Celsius degrees, and the water was usually non-drinkable, causing many water-borne diseases in local people. But now clean drinking water is provided to local people near their homes under the Thar coal mine project.

Talking to Xinhua, Naseer Memon, general manager of Corporate Social Responsibility in the SECMC, said they are also working to protect local handicrafts by buying products directly from local people on market rates, thus improving the financial condition of local craftsmen.

He said they also trained a number of unskilled laborers from Thar to give them opportunity to reap the harvest of CPEC by getting employment.

The general manager said many of the laborers were later hired by other companies because of their expertise learnt from the project, and they filled the slot by training more people.

Comment by Riaz Haq on May 4, 2020 at 11:11am

The women of Rator village in Pakistan’s province of Sindh celebrated a harvest this year. This was no ordinary harvest, and was five years in the making, requiring a huge amount of labour to nurture fruit trees in a water-scarce region. But any harvest in the desert areas of Umerkot district is special. This is a desert area, with little water available, and what little is available, is brackish.

The journey began in 2015 when 10 women planted 50 fruit berry (Jujube) trees grafted with indigenous wild berries. They received garden management trainings by Sami Foundation — a local civil society organisation — with the support of ActionAid-Pakistan and the Ariz Zone Research Institute (AZRI) Umerkot.

Each of the women is in charge of five trees. They spend two hours on every alternate day, watering the plants, weeding out grass and placing organic fertiliser


https://www.dawn.com/news/1536581

---------

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/222313-Kitchen-gardens-in-Thar-pro...

HYDERABAD: Women in the Thar Desert are picking the first harvest of vegetables that they had cultivated in their fenced communal kitchen gardens before the rains. The vegetables that have yielded in less than two months are tinda (round gourd) and guar (cluster bean), the most favourable food for the community often faced with food insecurity.

Other vegetable plants and edible leaves that usually grow after rains have also sprouted in the gardens, keeping the village women happy. Under the indigenous nutrition programme, initiated by a local Rural Development Association (RDA) in 13 villages of Tehsils Islamkot and Diplo of Tharparkar District, these women feel secured in terms of having safe food at their doorsteps.

They do not use any chemical inputs to grow food, and since the land is fertile and consumes little water, the gardeners continue the inspiring practice of planting kitchen gardens during winter as well.

Women in groups have prepared larger plots inside their fenced courtyards to cultivate vegetables and edibles leaves as well as trees to fight against the prolonged dry spells and delayed rains. The recent rains have already recharged water wells for domestic purposes and irrigating the small fields inside homes.

This nutrition-sensitive initiative intends to address the endemic issue of malnutrition in the district, which has been recognised as the topmost cause of high incidents of infant and maternal mortality in recent studies conducted by government and other humanitarian organisations.

The communities are already aware of sustainable use of water, which is the most essential, expensive and very scarce commodity in the desert. The people of this region encounter frequent dryness for many months, and pay a heavy price of the impacts of extreme weather conditions in the form of malnutrition, death, and hunger.

Muhammad Siddiq leading the RDA said the association gave technical assistance for land preparation, building protective fencing, and procurement of materials, watering equipment and seasonal vegetable seeds.

Comment by Riaz Haq on May 4, 2020 at 11:23am

In pictures: Thar desert turns fertile after rainfall

https://www.dawn.com/news/1504992/in-pictures-thar-desert-turns-fer...

It has been nearly seven years since the residents of Sindh’s Thar desert saw a decent amount of rainfall, but this year has been different.

This year’s rains have transformed the harsh landscape and its inhabitants. Farmers are tilling their land, planting seeds, and for the first time in years, expecting a good harvest. The transformation of the desert landscape has attracted tourists from all over Pakistan to marvel at the grass-lined roadways that were, until recently, just drab sand and stone.

The desert landscape has turned into a lush green vista. — Photo by Manoj Genani

The desert is home to many varieties of indigenous trees, herbs, and grasses. It is the latter that provides feed for more than 6 million livestock.

Thari men moving cattle to the barrage areas. — Photo by Manoj Genani

A month and a half ago, heavy winds accompanied by soaring temperature hit the region. People migrated towards the barrage areas more than 200 kilometres away with their cattle. Now, all that has changed. In the deep desert, dunes have been covered by a greenish coverlet, trees have doubled and tripled their leaves, and the grass is growing with unrestrained enthusiasm.

Khaku is delighted by the rains. — Photo by Manoj Genani

Khaku, who lives in the village of Dhorio, was weeding out grass from his land. He was thankful for the rain, and said that he had invested Rs20,000 on his land, and intended to work for the next three months until the harvest in the last week of November.

His family – he has seven children – seemed to be as enthusiastic as he was, working from sunrise to sunset. Every family member plays a role in cultivating the desert land.

Two children returning from school just a month and a half ago in the district of Umerkot. — Photo by Manoj Genani

When drought hits the people and animals face an acute shortage of fodder and cereal crops, as well as water scarcity. These lead to premature births among livestock, and the malnutrition rate increases among children under 5 years of age. Pregnant and lactating women do not get proper amount of food. People are forced to migrate towards the areas where barrages have been built to find fodder and water for their cattle.

Just one and a half months ago, the desert was bare. — Photo by Manoj Genani

This year may be a year of hope, but nothing is certain, warns Bharumal Amrani, a folklorist and environmental expert.

“Nothing can be said finally until the harvest. This time Thar has received enough rains, but there are other climatic challenges that may cause low yield.”

Recent attacks by grasshoppers are an issue and have the potential to cause a huge loss.

Local farmers like Nehal, though, are optimistic. He had been taking on labour work during the lean period to manage household expenses. But, after the rains, his family has returned to the land.

Nehal and his family have returned to work on their farm full time. — Photo by Manoj Genani

“I invested Rs30,000 last year, but due to rainfall, we got fodder only for two months and couldn’t manage to repay the loan we had taken. This year, we welcomed a good shower, and we hope this would give us a way to fulfill our household needs until the next rains,” he said.

This year the denizens of the desert are happy, but there is no telling the future. — Photo by Manoj Genani

Despite the amount of rains, there is an issue about their timing.

“Due to climate change there has been a delay in the monsoon, the desert received the first spell of rain almost a month late, and that may badly affect the harvest,” says Aakash Hamirani, a youth activist.

Nevertheless, the people are happy, blessing their fortune this year, and hoping it marks a change from the last few years of lean rainfall.

Header photo by Manoj Genani

---

Comment by Riaz Haq on May 22, 2020 at 11:17am

Shanghai Electric distributes food
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/661986-shanghai-electric-distribut...

Shanghai Electric Group, the world's leading manufacturer and supplier of power generation and industrial equipment, has been providing regular food supplies to households living in villages located around its coal mining plant and power plant in Thar, a statement said on Thursday.

As the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the lives of millions of people globally, the worst-hit are the underprivileged, who are now also faced with the looming threat of food shortages, it added.

In Pakistan too, this is one of the major causes of concern for the authorities, especially in remote areas of Thar in Sindh.

Sino Sindh Resource (Pvt) Ltd and Shanghai Electric Engineering Consulting Company, with its branch office in Karachi, carried out the third stage of the provision of food supplies to around 800 households in villages located in area where the Thar Block-1 Integrated Coal Mine-Power project is located.

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 23, 2020 at 5:23pm

Migration, small towns and social
transformations in Pakistan
ARIF HASAN

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0956247809356180

Although Mithi was established as a settlement some 500 years ago, its
population in 1998 was only 19,524. However, today it has a population
of more than 50,000.(44) The reason for this increase is that in 1992,
Mithi was declared the headquarters of the newly created desert district
of Tharparkar. This was as a result of pressure from its politicians, who
justified such the move on the basis of an increase in population and
on the difficulties of travelling to Mirpurkhas, the district headquarters
before Tharparkar district was created. Mithi’s population also increased
because of road building projects, which have linked the town with the
other desert settlements and the irrigated areas of the Indus plains. As a
result, jobs have been created and a large number of businesses and desert
tourism have developed.
Because of the wars with India, as a result of which large areas of
Tharparkar were occupied by Pakistan in 1965 and by India in 1971, the
old Hindu-dominated caste and feudal system collapsed, with the result
that the artisanal castes were freed from serfdom. Since they, unlike
the peasants and herdsmen, possessed skills that were required by the
urban economy, many of them became economically well-off and have
subsequently become doctors, lawyers and NGO activists who are involved
in the political and development affairs of Mithi. The breakdown of the
old feudal system has also meant that families are now free to migrate to
Mithi from the rural areas. Recurring drought (the result of the collapse
of the old feudal system of resource management) has caused famine, and
rural families are heavily indebted; jobs in the urban areas are a way of
repaying debts. Migration to Mithi has also been triggered by the desire
of rural families (now freed from serfdom), especially the artisanal castes,
to educate their children and have better civic facilities, particularly for
the education of girls, which are not available in rural areas. There have
been instances where entire clans have migrated en masse to Mithi for
these reasons.(

Comment by Riaz Haq on August 29, 2020 at 9:26am

Monsoon in #Pakistan: Bane for farmers, boon for animal herders. Heavy rain has hit standing crops & #vegetables plants nurseries hard, but animal herders in #Thar desert are happy as more rains mean more fodder for #livestock and better livelihood. #Sindh https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/706310-monster-rains-a-bane-for-pl...

According to reports pouring in from different parts of the province, including Sanghar, Matiari, Tando Allahyar, Tando Muhammad Khan, Hyderabad, Jamshoro, Dadu, Thatta, Sujawal, Badin, Mirpurkhas, Umarkot, and Tharparkar districts, heavy rains have flooded the fields of cotton crop at the time of its harvesting, as farmers were busy picking in many areas.

In others parts nurseries of onion, tomato, and late variety of chilli, ready to be planted, have also come under rainwater, causing uncertainty among growers.

The farmers had already prepared their pieces of land for plantation of abovementioned veggies, but the record showers disrupted their plans.

Mir Zafarullah Talpur, a grower in Tando Jan Muhammad, sharing his observations, said the farmers in Kunri, Umerkot, Dighri, Naukot, Samaro and Jhudho had lost their fine quality chilli due to heavy rains. “An up to 12-hour long continuous rainfall inundated the crops over a wide area,” he observed.

Gulab Shah, a grower from Keti Bunder coastal area, said the rain had been pouring since the last 24 hours, causing damages to standing crops of Paan (Betel leaves), tomato, banana, cucumber, and chilli. “Artificial drains made for saline water are not taking flood water. In some places these drains are seen overflowing, further threatening crops,” he said.

The chilli in coastal areas has its different season compared to main chilli zones like Kunri.

Haroon Memon, a chilli grower of Kunri, Umerkot district said the farmers were preparing to start harvesting of early sown chilli expected to start on September 15, 2020.

The crop standing on hundreds of acres in the area has come under rainwater.

“There is no exact data of crop damages, because neither concerned government departments nor growers’ bodies have the capacity to assess the situation,” Memon said adding however the losses were likely to be huge in chilli and cotton crops in these areas, where entire farmland was under water.

Noor Hussain Khoso, another farmer from Badin, said cotton and chilli were sensitive crops, which have come under water and might be lost within a few days in case water did not recede.

“Mostly there is no drainage system in any agriculture area to save the crops. Some influential landlords have arranged dewatering machines to save their crops, but many other farmers, who are unable to drain the water out of fields, fear big losses,” Khoso said.

Some farmers said it was too late to rent dewatering machines because the new rain spell was due within a few days, as reported by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

Manzoor Kalhoro, who manages four nurseries of valuable fruit, ornamental plants and forest species in Deh Narejani, Hyderabad city suburbs, said the devastation rained on them.

“It is not only Hyderabad, there are reports from Mirpurkhas where nurseries have come under water,” he added.

A large number of people are in the plant nursery business. They are using pumping machines to drain rainwater to save the saplings, but at the same time are bracing for losses. There are several sensitive plants which cannot survive in stagnant water for many days.

Muhammad Siddiq of Mithi, Tharparkar called the rain a boon for the desert areas, where farmers and herder families seem happy, believing rain might benefit the early sown crops and green pastures.

There are reports that breaches in irrigation tributaries have also caused flooding of crops.

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