HUMBOLDT-UNIVERSITÄT ZU BERLIN Landwirtschaftlich-Gärtnerische Fakultät "Livestock Utilisation in Cholistan - Ecological and Socio-Economic Impacts of Development Interventions" Diplomarbeit in der Studienrichtung: Internationale Agrarwirtschaft vorgelegt von: Alexander Kühne Betreuer: Prof. Dr. Horst-Jürgen Schwartz Fachgebiet für Nutztierökologie und Dr. habil. Claudia Kijora Fachgebiet für Tierzucht in den Tropen und Subtropen Berlin, den 20.12.2007 iii Contents List of Abbreviations.......................................................................................................v List of Figures..................................................................................................................v List of Tables...................................................................................................................vi 1 Introduction.................................................................................................1 1.1 Background and Relevance..........................................................................1 1.2 Objectives of the Study and Working Hypotheses.......................................4 1.3 Structure of the Thesis..................................................................................6 2 The Target Area..........................................................................................7 2.1 Physiography................................................................................................7 2.1.1 Localisation and Palaeogeography...............................................................7 2.1.2 Contemporary Climatic Conditions............................................................13 2.1.3 Soils and Topography.................................................................................15 2.1.4 Water Sources.............................................................................................18 2.1.5 Vegetation...................................................................................................19 2.1.6 Land Degradation.......................................................................................23 2.2 Infrastructure...............................................................................................27 2.2.1 Water Supply..............................................................................................27 2.2.2 Transport Facilitation..................................................................................29 2.2.3 Marketing Systems.....................................................................................31 2.2.4 Veterinary Services.....................................................................................34 2.3 Characteristics and Dynamics of local Farming Systems...........................35 2.3.1 Origins of Mobile Pastoralism in Cholistan...............................................35 2.3.1.1 The Process of Domestication....................................................................36 2.3.1.2 The Great Transition of the 3rd Millennium B.C.......................................41 2.3.2 Forms of Mobile Animal Husbandry..........................................................45 2.3.3 Livestock Resources...................................................................................50 2.3.3.1 Livestock Breeds and Diseases...................................................................50 2.3.3.2 Size and Composition of Livestock Herds.................................................52 iv 2.3.4 Livestock Products and Market Orientation...............................................54 2.3.5 Social Organisation and Resource Tenure..................................................56 3 Focussed Development Interventions......................................................60 3.1 Conceptual and Institutional Framework....................................................61 3.2 Details of the Different Efforts...................................................................63 3.2.1 Rainwater Harvesting and Storage.............................................................63 3.2.2 Pumping of Useable Groundwater..............................................................65 3.2.3 Drinking Water Pipelines............................................................................65 3.2.4 Transport Facilitation..................................................................................67 3.2.5 Colonisation of Government Land.............................................................68 3.2.5.1 Historical Background of Land Tenure in Pakistan....................................70 4 Methodology..............................................................................................73 4.1 Farming Systems Approach........................................................................73 4.2 Information Base and Critical Evaluation of Data Quality and Representativeness......................................................................................76 4.2.1 Primary Data Generation............................................................................77 4.2.1.1 Selection of Research Localities and Interview Participants......................79 4.2.1.2 Interviewing Herders..................................................................................81 4.2.2 Data Processing and Analysis.....................................................................83 5 Results and Discussion..............................................................................85 5.1 Recommendation Domains.........................................................................85 5.2 Analysis of Impacts on the Farming Systems.............................................90 5.2.1 Impacts of the Development Interventions on Migration Patterns.............90 5.2.1.1 Water Supply Developments......................................................................90 5.2.1.2 Agricultural Colonisation...........................................................................94 5.2.2 Impacts of Acquiring Land on Pastoral Farming Systems.........................96 6 Summary and Conclusions....................................................................100 7 Bibliography............................................................................................103 8 Annex.......................................................................................................110 v List of Abbreviations acc. according to a.o. among others approx. approximately avg. average e.g. for example (lat. exempli gratia) esp. especially i.e. that is (lat. id est) n.a. not applied PRs Pakistani Rupees (currency of Pakistan) sc. so-called List of Figures Figure 1: General map of Cholistan.................................................................................8 Figure 2: Palaeo-channels of the Indus-Sarasvati drainage system................................11 Figure 3: Climate diagram of Dingarh station (PCRWR) in Cholistan..........................13 Figure 4: Rain map of Thar/ Cholistan...........................................................................14 Figure 5: Map of transport facilities in the district of Bahawalpur................................30 Figure 6: View (near closing) on the weekly small-ruminants market in Yazman........32 Figure 7: Simplified evolutionary classification of systems of animal exploitation......36 Figure 8: Map of northwestern South Asia, showing archaeological sites....................37 Figure 9: Yearly movement pattern of pastoralists in Cholistan....................................46 Figure 10: Migration spaces practised by different livestock species............................47 Figure 11: Drinking water pipelines in Cholistan..........................................................66 Figure 12: Percentage distribution of survey participants involved in interventions....86 Figure 13: Percentage distribution of survey participants among wealth groups..........89 Figure 14: Increased stocking density around improved water supply (clustered)........92 Figure 15: Routes to drought season areas disturbed by colonisation schemes.............95 Figure 16: Proportions of respondents telling interest to acquire irrigated land............97 vi Figure 17: Proportions of respondents interested to keep more livestock (clustered)...98 List of Tables Table 1: Exemplary water intake of a fine textured soil in Cholistan............................16 Table 2: Carrying capacity per year of Cholistan...........................................................22 Table 3: Extent and parameters of land degradation in Cholistan .................................23 Table 4: Livestock population and forage demand in Cholistan....................................24 Table 5: Annual demand and supply of dry matter forage in Cholistan.........................24 Table 6: Average annual flows of Sutlej........................................................................29 Table 7: Reported livestock population in Cholistan.....................................................52 Table 8: Average livestock holding per species in Cholistan.........................................53 Table 9: Areas allotted under various schemes in Cholistan..........................................69 Table 10: Wealth groups of households in Cholistan defined by livestock holding......88 Table 11: Average livestock holding per species of the surveyed farming systems......89 1 1 Introduction 1.1 Background and Relevance Drylands cover 41 % of the earth©s land area and are