How locusts and water scarcity are destroying Sindh’s crops

The few crops farmers could have cultivated this year due to the water scarcity have now fallen prey to locusts

In the village of Lass, located in Tharparkar, Muhammad Essa Lund and his family reach their agricultural land at dawn. They bring their kitchenware along with them, which they use to drive locusts out of their fields. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident and represents the tragic tale of almost everyone who owns a piece of agricultural land in this region. Due to the locust invasion, the only primary school in the area has been closed down, labourers have been unable to travel to nearby cities for work, patients have had to postpone their visits to the local dispensaries, and shepherds have been unable to move their livestock. Life in this village has come to a complete standstill. 

“We had been thanking God for the recent showers in Thar because rains brings prosperity for us Tharis, but we didn’t have the slightest idea that following the heavy rains our ripe crops will be destroyed by locusts in front of our eyes, all while we can do nothing about it,” Lund remarks.

This village is situated at the border of districts Badin and Tharparkar, which is why a large section of the village consists of a desert area while some eastern parts of the village have been cultivated on water from the barrage since 1932 (when the Sukkur barrage was made operational by the British). Since the 2010-11 floods, there has been an extreme shortage of water in the entire area and those individuals who had been previously associated with agricultural practices are slowly losing their primary source of income. While recent record breaking rains in Tharparkar initially created hope that the water scarcity problem might be temporarily alleviated, the swarm of locusts which promptly followed the rains have proved to be the final nail in the coffin for many farmers in the region.

“We have been receiving water for agriculture and other domestic purposes from Gulan Wari Shaakh and Rinn Shaakh (local water outlets), but since 2012 both the water bodies have started to run dry, because of which our agricultural activities have been on the ventilator. The locusts have only further exacerbated this issue. As a result, we are now looking for other means through which we can generate our income,” local resident Khuda Bux Dars informed me.

This is the second attack of locusts in this village in the space of a few months, with the previous attack taking place in October 2019, during which locusts plagued the village for three consecutive days and devoured crops across 500 acres of agricultural land. While locusts previously damaged unripe crops consisting on field mustard, maize and wheat, locals fear that this time around the locust attacks could be more severe.

Another village faces a similar crisis. Malkani Sharif, which is located around 10 kilometres away, towards the north of Pangrio city in Taluka Tando Bagho of district Badin, has been invaded by locusts for the fifth time in the last two months. Though most of the area has been barren and dry since 2010-2011 due to a shortage of water, whatever land local landowners could have cultivated has now been seized by locusts. Haji Ali Bux Laghari, a local landlord, spends each morning alongside his land manager and farmers trying to drive locusts out of the fields by beating drums. A short distance away, Karmoon Kolhi, with his wife Devi and their six children, engage in a similar practice in order to drive away locusts from their six acres of agricultural land.

But these issues have been festering in this area for years, yet the authorities have repeatedly ignored the plight of the locals. In 2014, the Sindh Abadgar Tanzeem (SAT) carried out a long march from Malkani Sharif to Hyderabad in an attempt to notify the government about the rising water scarcity and the host of problems which would accompany this growing crisis. While such movements spearheaded by the locals are increasing, it is evident that the residents feel their pleas are falling on deaf ears. As Laghari argues,

“According to an old law, the landowners whose lands are cultivated via water from Sukkur barrage can only cultivate 33% of their land in a given season. This means that if we have 100 acres of land here we can only cultivate 33 acres in one season. Since 2000, there have been continuous water shortages in this entire area, due to which many people have sold their lands and are instead forced to become labourers. Of course, the main reason behind the water scarcity in the region is the illegal water distribution.”

Hence, the seriousness of the government’s claims that help and relief will be provided for the farmers affected by the locust attacks can be gauged from the abject helplessness of the people whose ordeal has been narrated above. The limited amount of crops these farmers could have cultivated this year due to the water scarcity have now fallen prey to locusts, and it looks like these locals will have to combat the growing list of issues all by themselves.