Rising Temperatures, Increasing Water Scarcity Are Forcing Nepalese Buffalo Farmers to Sell Off Stock

DHULALTHOK, NEPAL – Just after 6 o’clock one morning last summer, Sharmila Dulal joined a small group of village women at the community tap in her village.

She took out the three metal pots she had toted to the tap in her “doko,” a large woven bamboo and cane basket she carried on her back.

The two cows and single buffalo her family rears need 20 liters (5.3 gallons) of water every day, Dulal says. She gets less than 15 liters (4 gallons) from the community tap; she collects the rest from the Sungure Khola, a small stream that flows near the village.

As she started filling the first pot, the woman behind her at the tap yelled at her, Dulal says.

“You are not a human!” the woman shouted. “We don’t have water to drink and you are taking water for your buffaloes.”

A few of the other women also yelled at her, Dulal says.

Feeling embarrassed and ashamed, Dulal quickly filled one metal pot and left the tap, she says.

Dulal, 31, has been enduring such verbal abuse for about six years, ever since the village water sources, including wells and a stream, started to dry up.

Dulal lives with her in-laws and children in the village of Dhulalthok in Kavrepalanchok district, a rural district in the central region of Nepal.

In addition to toting water, Dulal must collect enough grass to feed the livestock three times a day – a once-common task in rural villages, where raising livestock has long been a standard practice.

But it is becoming increasingly difficult to find grass and water for the stock, she says.

“Every time, I feel like selling the buffalo rather than hearing bad words from my neighbor,” Dulal says. “It is better to buy the milk than raise the buffaloes at home.”

In rural Nepalese villages, buffaloes are raised mainly for their milk and products made from the milk, particularly curd, which is similar to yogurt, and ghee, a shortening used for cooking. Buffaloes are not reared principally for meat; they are only sold for meat after they stop producing milk.

Livestock farming makes up 28 percent of Nepal’s economy, and dairy production accounts for over 60 percent of the economic value of livestock. Eighty percent of Nepal’s livestock farmers raise buffaloes; 71 percent of the country’s dairy production and 65 percent of its meat come from buffaloes.

Eight years ago, Dulal’s father-in-law, Bishnu Prasad Dulal, owned 12 buffaloes and three cows, Sharmila Dulal says. Over time, the family sold off all but the remaining three animals because it could no longer obtain enough food and water for a larger herd.

The village’s water sources have been dwindling since about 1989, says Bishnu Dulal, 78.

“It doesn’t rain on time, and even if it rains it is not adequate,” he says. “The rivers and rivulets have dried out. We face scarcity of drinking water.”

Livestock farming, an important part of Nepal’s economy, is declining because of the impacts of climate change. A drop in rainfall has reduced the amount of food and water available for stock, and higher temperatures have caused a drop in milk production and an increase in parasites.

Displaced by floods and landslides caused by extreme weather, thousands of Nepalese have stopped raising buffaloes because of their uncertain living conditions. The government and nongovernmental organizations are providing training and subsidies to enable buffalo farmers to adapt to changes in the climate.

Climate change has made raising livestock and cattle a challenge for the past five years, says Chet Raj Upreti, chief scientist of the Animal Nutrition Division at the Nepal Agricultural Research Council.

Rural Nepalese families used to raise buffaloes for milk and meat for their own consumption and for sale within their immediate communities, Upreti says. Demand for fresh milk increased as middle-class families learned of its nutritional value, especially for children, and became able to afford it.

Responding to the increase in demand, livestock farmers started raising cattle to earn extra income 10 years ago, Upreti says. Improvements in roads and transport methods encouraged the trend.

However, climate change has decreased the production of the grass that buffaloes feed on, Purna Bahadur Budha, chairperson of Nepal Paraveterinary and Livestock Association, says in a phone interview.

An analysis of temperature data over the past 10 years shows an annual temperature increase of .04 degree Celsius (.07 degree Fahrenheit) to .06 degree Celsius (.1 degree Fahrenheit) in Nepal, Upreti says.

Globally, 2001 to 2010 was the warmest decade on record since thermometer-based observations began in 1901, according to a May 2014 report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The global average surface temperature has risen at an average rate of .08 degree Celsius (.15 degree Fahrenheit) per decade since 1901.

Global atmospheric temperatures are forecast to rise by 1.8 to 4 degrees Celsius (3.2 to 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2100, according to “Climate Change: Livestock Sector Vulnerability and Adaptation in Nepal,” published by the Nepal Agricultural Research Council in 2011.

The temperature increase will be accompanied by changes in rainfall patterns and river flows and higher incidences of extreme weather events, according to the report.

Rising temperatures directly affect the milk production of buffaloes, Upreti says. Their reproductive systems function best between 30 and 39 degrees Celsius (86 to 102.2 degrees Fahrenheit).

If the temperature rises above 39 degrees Celsius, the animals lose their appetite and their productivity decreases by 25 percent, he says. In addition, higher temperatures cause an increase in parasites.

The natural water sources are also slowly drying up, Budha says.

The annual average precipitation in Nepal is decreasing at the rate of 9.8 mm (.4 inch) a decade, according to a 2011 report by Nepal’s Water and Energy Commission Secretariat.

The drying up of water sources, the lack of pastures for grazing, and the drop in grass yields have made livestock farming increasingly difficult, says Lok Nath Paudel, senior livestock development officer at the Ministry of Agricultural Development.

Consequently, farmers are selling off their buffaloes.

The number of buffaloes in Nepal dropped by 100,000 in the past year, from 5.24 million in July 2013 to 5.14 million in July 2014, according to the Ministry of Finance’s 2013-2014 fiscal year economic survey.

The number of buffaloes in Nepal has always fluctuated from year to year, but the industry consensus is that the overall number is declining, Upreti says.

Six years ago, Kunti Acharya had five buffaloes that produced 30 liters (7 gallons) of milk every day, she says. She used to earn 12,000 rupees ($123) a month selling milk, ghee and yogurt.

Using that income, she sent her two children to school.

But today, Acharya, 45, a single mother, says she struggles to even feed her adult children, who study at the Surkhet Education Campus, a government university. (In Nepalese culture, parents are responsible for unmarried adult children).

Acharya’s income has plummeted to 5,000 rupees ($51) a month.

She now has only one buffalo, and that animal’s milk production has dropped, Acharya says. She sold off her other buffaloes over the past six years, as it became difficult to find grass to feed them.

“Buffalo farming has been more pain than profit, as I do not get enough grass even when I walk to the jungle, 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) from here,” she says.

The data show that buffaloes have been contributing more in meat production than in dairy production, Paudel says. Buffalo meat previously was consumed primarily by minority groups in Nepal, but it is becoming more popular among the general population.

“Increase in buffalo meat means decrease in live buffaloes,” he says. “Climate change has forced farmers to sell their buffaloes.”

If a buffalo gets nutritious food and good care, it can give 17 liters (4 gallons) of milk a day, Paudel says. But because their nutrition has been poor, buffaloes in Nepal now produce an average of only about 3 liters (.8 gallons) a day.

Dairy production in Nepal does not meet consumption needs, Upreti says. Demand has always outstripped supply, but the gap has been widening because of population growth, urbanization and changes in the Nepalese diet.

Nepal now imports 160,000 liters (42,267 gallons) of milk a day from India, he says. The price of a liter (.3 gallon) of full-fat milk has gone up to 70 rupees (71 cents) from 15 rupees (15 cents) per liter in 2004.

The average male Nepalese laborer earns 201 rupees ($2.10) a day, according to the Nepal Living Standards Survey of 2010-2011 published by the Central Bureau of Statistics. Consequently, many average families cannot afford fresh milk.

Bishnu Dulal says the family’s small field of 21,900 square feet (2,035 square meters) cannot produce enough fodder for the livestock. He spends 4,100 rupees ($42) a month on fodder sold in the market.

When he had more livestock, he sold more than 20,000 rupees ($204) of milk a month, Bishnu Dulal says. These days he sells about 8,000 rupees ($82) worth of milk, for a profit of about 1,000 rupees ($10).

Since this income is not enough to support the family, his two sons last year went to work on construction sites in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Each of them sends 50,000 rupees ($511) home every month, which sustains the family.

The farmers who used to earn their living selling milk and ghee from buffaloes are finding it more lucrative to migrate abroad, says Ganesh Gurung, a sociologist and founder of the Nepal Institute of Development Studies.

Migration, mainly to India and Middle Eastern countries, such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, has increased rapidly over the past 10 years, he says.

Regular natural disasters in Nepal have also reduced livestock production, experts say.

Nepal has for years been vulnerable to natural disasters. The country is hit with an average of 900 natural disasters each year, resulting in the loss of lives and livelihoods, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Nepal Disaster Report for 2013.

Floods, landslides and other natural disasters have displaced a large number of people in Nepal, says Mohan Mainali, former secretary of the Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists, an organization working to raise public awareness of the environment, sustainable development and other social issues. He has been reporting on climate change issues in Nepal since 1991.

“When a family migrates due to natural disaster caused by climate change, they usually do not have the courage to start livestock farming,” Mainali says. “Therefore, along with the decrease of other livestock, the number of buffalo too has decreased.”

Many displaced families don’t find permanent homes for some time, he says. They also have difficulty finding fodder for livestock. Those factors, along with a lack of money to buy new livestock, discourage displaced farmers from resuming livestock farming.

The main reason for the decline in buffalo numbers is that people are raising buffaloes for meat rather than dairy production, says Tirtha Raj Regmi, senior associate director of resource mobilization of Heifer International Nepal, a nonprofit organization that works to end hunger and poverty.

Since the start of 2012, Heifer International Nepal has been working with livestock farmers in 27 districts to improve livestock productivity, Regmi says.

The organization has not conducted any scientific research on whether climate change affects buffalo farming, he says. But its work with farmers has revealed that increasing drought and uncertain rainfall reduces the availability of fodder for the livestock.

As a result, the organization plans to begin researching the impact of climate change on buffalo farming in early 2015.

Government and nongovernmental organizations have recognized the need for urgent action to help livestock farmers.

The Nepal Agricultural Research Council, in partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development, is implementing a two-and-a-half-year pilot program, from August 2012 to April 2015, to minimize the effect of climate change on buffaloes, Upreti says.

The pilot program is being conducted in three districts, Chitwan, Gorkha and Tanahu, which are rural areas with large numbers of buffalo farmers, he says.

Rainwater collection has helped farmers in the program to grow grass even in the dry season, Upreti says. Participating farmers are also planting hybrid grasses that grow on minimal water.

Since 2012, livestock centers in these districts have trained 90 farmers in livestock raising, making pastures for grazing, and artificial insemination and in-vitro fertilization of buffaloes, he says.

Before the program ends, the centers will train farmers in market management and techniques for producing high-quality milk, Upreti says.

To encourage livestock production, Community Climate Change Response Project of Local Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research and Development, a nongovernmental organization researching the impact of climate change on livestock in Nepal, is distributing seedlings of nutritional grass to more than 1,000 farmers in 38 districts.

For some farmers, these interventions may come too late.

“We survived in livestock farming since the time of my forefathers, but now I don’t think I can raise buffalo,” Bishnu Dulal says. “I have grown old, but I always worry how my sons and grandsons will make their living.”

GPJ translated this article from Nepali.