Drought and smuggling took a toll on livestock in Rajasthan

Jaisalmer, Feb 6(UNI) The recurring drought and smuggling of cows have led to sharp decline in the livestock population of Rajasthan.

According to the data available with the Rajasthan Veterinary Council sheep population there has been a sharp fall of 31 per cent in the last six years since 1997. The sheep population in 1997 was 1.45 crore and it came down to just over one crore in 2003 while according the livestock census the cow population in 1997 stood at 1.19 crore which had been reduced to 1.4 crore in 2003, a reduction of 12.19 percent. The camel population also recorded a drop by 23 per cent from 6.69 lakh to 4.98 lakh during the same period.

The only saving grace is the increasing buffalo popualtion. The buffalo popualtion has shown a remarkable increase in its number to 1.4 crore in 2003 from 97.70 lakh in 1997.

According to the registrar of Rajasthan Veterinary Council Dr Lal Singh, ''the sharp decline in sheep population is the result of adverse climatc conditions due to the reccuring drought and the ever reducing graze land''.

While experts see two reasons for the decling of cow population in the state. One is the recent trend of farmers opting for buffalo to the low yielding local varity of cows and the second reason could be the smuggling of the cows to neighbouring countries, especially Bengladesh.

Director General Border Security Force A K Mishra, during a recent visit to the border district of Jaisalmer, had acknowledged smuggling of cows to Bengladesh. ''India shares a porous border of 4096 km with Bengladesh of which 2800 km have been fenced while fencing work was on progress for the remaining areas. But there were some stretches of about 265 km which were non fencibile because of difficult topography which the smugglers could take advantage of, Mr Mishra said.

The decling livestock popualtion is a grave concern to the village economy as after agricultre, animal husbandry is the back borne of the rural economy.

UNI