Ahmed Khan Malik

 Located in Sindh, the Thar region – known for its huge coal reserves – has immense livestock potential; however, it remains underutilized due to the lack of government attention, reports WealthPK.

Tharparkar District is counted as the richest district in natural resources, significantly in indigenous coal, granite, salt mines, livestock and china clay. Ninety-nine percent of the district falls in the Thar Desert, Allah Rakhio, a researcher at the Livestock Research Institute, Umar Kot, told WealthPK. Thar is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Stabilization of dunes and siltification in the interdunal valleys have provided a good environment for cultivation. Consequently, goats, sheep, camels, and other cattle are raised there.

The length of the Karoonjhar range is 19km and it has a height of 305 meters. April, May and June are remarkably hot during the day, while December, January, and February are the coldest in the Thar Desert. There is a wide fluctuation in the rainfall from year to year, and the average rainfall in some areas is 100 millimeters. There is no canal or some other channel for the cultivation of land, and people depend on a significant amount of rainfall during the monsoon season. The majority of people depend on the livestock for survival.

Sindh has 7,52,265 cattle, 22,17,876 goats, 11,85,122 sheep, 1,35,356 camels, 2,35,356 asses and 8,519 horses and the second largest number of mules among all districts. Bashir Jokhio, Director of Agriculture and Livestock Department, told WealthPK that Tharparkar was one of the areas where agriculture was less developed by the people due to the deserted land, but it was rich in natural resources, specifically Thar coal, granite, china clay and salt mines as well as the livestock.

 He said the provincial government was working for improvement in the energy, health, education and livestock sectors. As Thar lies on one side of Sindh, far away from the main river and canal system, the availability of water is a big issue. However, efforts are being made to supply water through the canal system to develop agriculture as well as livestock.

Credit: INP-WealthPk