UNDP to provide Feed for Livestock in Drought Affected Cholistan

The country has been facing drought like situation from 1998. This situation has exacerbated due to the lower than average rains over the last three years. Almost all the areas were affected to some degree by this drought. One of the hard hit regions by the drought is Cholistan desert in the Bahawalpur Division located in southern Punjab on the Indo-Pak border. The total area of Cholistan is 26,330 square kilometers and it has a population of about 150,000 people who live in small settlements all over the desert. Almost 81 percent of the people live below the poverty line and their primary source of livelihood is livestock. According to the official sources, the livestock population of the area is 1.37 million and almost 60 percent of the livestock population has been affected by the drought. The Meteorological Department predicts some monsoon rains in the area (since it lies on the periphery of active monsoon) but they are expected in late July or early August. The rains, if they occur, will result in regeneration of vegetation and availability of feed but the extreme feed stress will probably not be corrected for some time only through grazing.

In order to provide some relief to save at least the breeding stock and to help the livestock herders until the rains, United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) was approached. UNDP has been allocated a sum of US$ 51,000 to launch a support programme by adopting a two pronged approach. The first step would be to provide 43,700 animals with Urea Molasses Blocks for a period of three weeks. To achieve this, 437 tons of Urea Molasses Blocks will be purchased. The process of procuring and distributing the Blocks has already been started. UNDP, in close cooperation with FAO is rushing a team to the affected area to impart the necessary training to the staff of the Livestock Department and BRDP in the proper use of these blocks. The team would reach Cholistan by the end of this week and the delivery of Urea Molasses Blocks will start by the beginning of the next week. The distribution of the Urea Molasses Blocks will take place in cooperation with the Pakistan Army. These blocks would provide the breeding stock with nourishment until the monsoon rains arrive.

The second step of the mitigation efforts would be to set up a small unit that would be capable of producing these blocks locally. This would be a step having long term benefits for the community and will make them self reliant in Urea Molasses Blocks. This unit would be operated by one of the community organization organized by BRDP who would also undertake to arrange training of the community activists to run this unit with the cooperation of experts from the Livestock Department. The order for this unit has already been placed and will soon be delivered in Cholistan.


These measures are of extreme importance to save the production base and the only source of livelihoods of the people. They are also in line with the recommendations made by the Crop and Food Assessment Mission. It is of paramount importance to undertake measures to save the livestock population which is the primary source of livelihoods of almost all the people living in the area.