A dairy venture: Project to provide income opportunity for Tharis ready to lift off

Former president Zardari is expected to launch the Sindh agriculture growth project today.

KARACHI: One of the most important projects in the history of Tharparkar is all set to be launched. It aims at utilising approximately 50,000 litres of milk, which is wasted each day, as a source of income for the Tharis.

Former president Asif Ali Zardari is expected to inaugurate the Sindh agriculture growth project on January 7 (today). According to an official estimate, there are seven million animals in the desert. Around 2.7 million goats, 1.2 million sheep, one million cows and around 150,000 camels are there. Owing to a lack of access to a market, an estimated 50,000 litres of milk is wasted each day.



The project will start in nine districts of Sindh: Tharparkar, Badin, Thatta, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Matiari, Tando Allahyar, Shaheed Benazirabad and Naushahro Feroze. The provincial government aims to start the new project from the Tharparkar district so that the Tharis are provided a chance to improve their economy.

"Other districts will also be included in the project in the next phase," said an official of the Sindh Livestock and Fisheries Department. A total of 153 milk freezers will be installed in all districts, including 30 in Tharparkar and 23 in the Badin district in its first phase. "There are around 40,000 animals that could give at least five litres of milk daily," animal breeding director Dr Abdul Qadir Junejo told The Express Tribune. "All such animals will be registered before their milk is collected."

The five-year project funded by the World Bank started in August last year. According to the officials, the milk collection process is expected to start within the next two months due to its technical requirements.

"There is no concept of selling milk across the desert," said livestock and fisheries minister, Jam Khan Shoro. "It will provide a better livelihood and people will start earning through their animals instead of only selling them."

In the Thraparkar district, there are only two main cattle markets: Islamkot and Chachro.

The Tharis, whose only source of earning is agriculture if there is enough rain, depend greatly on animals. "People across Sindh sell milk of big animals but not of goats," said Shoro, adding that his department plans to segregate the milk of goats for the projects. He said that there is no concept of selling camel milk either. He said that thousands of people will get additional income if they register their animals with the project.

According to the officials of the project, the survey of animals has already started and only those villages will be preferred where the quantity of milk is in abundance. "The capacity of a freezer is 500 to 1,000 litres," said Dr Junejo, adding that the freezers will be installed on the basis of the survey and the quantity of milk available. Khan Mohammad Rahimoon, a resident of Chachro who sells desi ghee in Karachi, told The Express Tribune that one kilogramme of ghee is made with over 50 litres of milk. "It takes time and energy and I have to search for regular customers in the city," he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 7^th, 2014.