Cattle turn burden as Gujarat farmers face shortage of water and fodder

"I had 125 cattle till about a month ago. Now I have around 75. I had to give them to a local voluntary organization as I do not have enough fodder or money to feed them," says Noormohammad Harunbhai, a resident of Dador village, Nakhatrana taluka in Kutch district. The are is facing severe crisis of water and fodder.

"Fodder is scarce and no one is ready to buy cattle, so we have to leave them at safe places," he said. Kutch received just 111 mm of rain during the monsoon this year – 26 per cent of its average of 416 mm rains.

Noormohammad is just one of many cattle rearers in the district who are leaving their cows at shelter houses run by voluntary organizations and do not care to be compensated for it, as the livestock is more of a liability.

Raja Nagdabhai Novar of Ran village in Devbhumi Dwarka district has around six animals, mostly buffaloes. He has been using the by-product of his groundnut crop to feed them, but is unsure how long the stock will last.

Selling them is the worst case scenario. "Lack of fodder means either the cattle cannot be sold or sold at a very low price," says Novar.

"Milch buffaloes, which would fetch over around Rs 60,000-70,000, now sell at Rs 50,000. Poor quality of fodder has affected quality and quantity of milk output too. Earlier, we used to get Rs 50 per litre of milk, we now get about Rs 40 per litre." People are still holding on milch cattle.

Mohan Parmar of Ran village says he has no intention of leaving his three buffaloes. "There is a scarcity of fodder, but you won't get such good cattle. We have to take care of them," he says. He gets Rs 35-37 per litre for the milk from a local dairy, when usually it would draw about Rs 50 per litre.

Gujarat is home to the 'White Revolution' in the country. However, co-operative dairies are concentrated more in central and northern Gujarat.

"This year, rains have been scarce in interior parts of Saurashtra and Kutch. The co-operative dairy framework is also weaker. So things have aggravated for cattle-rearers," explains Sagar Rabari, secretary of Gujarat Khedut Samaj.

Traditional cattle rearers, the Maldharis, are migrating to areas that have better availability of water and fodder.

Parbat Patel runs three shelter houses for cattle in Kutch. Even he has reduced his livestock from about 12,000 to 6,000. "Cattle-rearers are trying to get rid of animals, even giving them away for free. They can't see their cattle dying in front of them. We hear of deaths due to starvation every day," says Patel.

Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which procures milk from district milk unions, also faces a drop in milk procurement from Saurashtra and Kutch. "Procurement has dropped by 10-15 per cent in a month-and-a-half. We are closely monitoring the situation and trying to find ways to protect the cattle," says R S Sodhi, MD of GCMMF.

The Amul model has shielded local farmers from exploitation by private dairies. Sodhi claims that farmers in Gujarat get about Rs 27-28 per litre of cow milk compared to about Rs 21-22 per litre in other states. Similarly, buffalo milk fetches about Rs 38 per litre in Gujarat compared to Rs 31-32 in other states.

B K Kikani, former vice chancellor of Junagadh Agriculture University said that the state government should immediately release water from dams to save crops and protect cattle. "We anticipate a crisis of drinking water," he says. "People can no longer afford to rear cattle. But there are no buyers either."