Drought in Tharparkar

Tharparkar district is most deprived area of Pakistan, while the World Food Programme declared it most food insecure.

UMERKOT: Tharparkar district lies in the southeast part of Sindh. Its area largely comprises the Thar Desert. Tharparkar is geographically spread over 22,000 square kilometers, with an estimated population of around 1.5 million people. The district is the most deprived area of Pakistan as ranked by the World Food Programme, which declared it the most food insecure of the country’s 120 districts. The current drought and the resultant starvation have caused the deaths of 121 children and hundreds of thousands of people are being forced to migrate from their homes. In addition, hundreds of cattle — mostly sheep and goats — have died of a viral disease in the district.

More than 90 per cent of the people of the district live in around 2,000 villages. More than 80 per cent of people’s livelihood is dependent on precarious rain-fed agriculture and livestock. In fact, livestock, fully or partially, contributes to the economy of every household in the district. The current estimated livestock population in the area is over six million. Tharparkar urgently needs food supplies, medical supplies and fodder. The prevailing precarious condition is badly affecting the lives of the inhabitants, but neither the federal nor the provincial authorities seem to be paying any heed to redress their grievances. The people, deprived of basic needs of life, demand of the authorities concerned to provide them with food supplies on an emergency basis so that further deaths can be avoided. The hunger and drought have badly affected pregnant women and children as well and if steps are not taken on a war footing, a huge humanitarian disaster may be on our hands.

Ali Nawaz Rahimoo

Published in The Express Tribune, March 8^th, 2014.

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