Jammu and Kashmir’s nomadic Gujjar and Bakarwal tribes have lost 12 “rare indigenous” species of sheep, goats, horses and dogs during the past four decades as a result of induction of foreign high-yielding breeds.
According to Javaid Rahi, secretary Tribal Research and Cultural Foundation (TRCF), a frontal organisation of Gujjars of Jammu and Kashmir, almost six of rare native species considered the most threatened in the world are also at the verge of extinction in the Himalayan belt of Jammu and Kashmir , Himachal Pradesh and adjoining states.
While releasing gist of a recent study, he said Jammu and Kashmir’s traditional graziers, the nomadic Gujjars-Bakerwals , rue the dying out of several indigenous spices of goat and sheep after introduction of foreign high-yielding breeds. “They have lost almost all the native species of sheep and, at present, have only foreign (Australian Merino) species of sheep with them,” he said.
The foundation and other stakeholders had urged the state government to take immediate measures including constituting a special team to save the existing rarest of rare species of livestock of nomadic Gujjars and Bakerwals in the state. The study also says that the species, which are distinctive with nomadic Gujjars and Bakerwals from times immemorial, have gradually been lost since 1968 when the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, under the Ministry of Agriculture, introduced certain foreign-origin breeds in the state. This was done to get maximum yield in terms of wool, mutton and other viable benefits and continues till date and “with the passage of time our indigenous species disappeared.”
Describing the trend as unfortunate, the study revealed that the planners while introducing cross breeds among the livestock of nomads did not plan to preserve the native and indigenous species of the livestock of the nomadic tribes. Some of the traditional species of sheep which have already disappeared include Ghidord Phamphri, Punchi Bakerwali, Bani, and Karnahi.
The study further says that in goat species, Kaghani, Lubdi and Kilan are on the verge of extinction whereas Gurziya, Belori, Lamdi and Goodri species too have already disappeared.
In the horse breeds, Yarkandi (Bakerwali), Nukra and Bharssi horse species have already finished while Jaskardi type, Kaliani and other rare species of horses are also on the verge of extinction. It says the Bhrokpa, Changpa and Dard tribes of Ladakh are lucky enough as the traditional species of their livestock are still preserved in remote pockets of the Shivalik area of the Himalayan belt.
Believing a few rarest of the rare species of the livestock of the nomadic Gujjars may have been preserved in some areas of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir and Afghanistan, the foundation has urged the government to initiate measures to ensure these are brought to Jammu and Kashmir to revive the traditional species in the state.