Declining Pastoralism tradition in Ladakh: Implications for a fragile agroecology

The Ladakh region was once characterized by a strong agro-pastoral economy. Even 60-70 years ago, almost all households of Ladakh owned farmlands as well as several livestock such as yak, goat, cow, dzo, dzomo, and horses. The local populace in those times were dependent on subsistence agriculture with a diverse variety of crops including barley, Sowa, wheat, and black pea to name a few.  Livestock rearing formed the backbone of the economy given the high demand for milk, wool, butter, and meat in the region. However, the system started changing post the Indo-China war.

With the advent of defence forces post-1960s, the road network grew drastically. Once the war was over, Ladakh became better connected with the rest of India, as well as the global economy. Post 1974, better road access opened Ladakh for tourism and Leh slowly became a hotspot of tourism activity. Abundant crop fields and grazing pastures were increasingly usurped by buildings such as hotels, markets, and lodges. Especially in Leh, increased linkage with the tourism economy and shrinking farm and pasture lands sounded the death knell for the prevalent agro-pastoral system. In Leh city and adjoining valleys today, not a single pastoral family exists, and farmlands are non-existent as well. Revenue from tourism, government schemes, and better job prospects in the Indian army and the Border Roads Organization slowly weaned away from the people of Leh city from their traditional livelihoods.

The trend also percolated to the villages nearby in the greater Ladakh region. The enticement of government jobs, profits in the tourism sector, easy access to loans for vehicles, and a general disregard for traditional livelihoods slowly dissuaded the youths to practise agro-pastoral models. Furthermore, certain highly influential religious leaders of the Buddhist community further dissuaded pastoral livelihoods citing violence and the importance of protecting all live forms. Pastoral practices, despite being economically lucrative is being increasingly viewed as cruel and sinful among the herder communities. Hence, several traditional herder families have even abandoned their livestock and set them free in the region to absolve themselves of past sins. Today, subsistence farming still exists in the rural areas but livestock rearing reduced drastically, thereby disrupting the fragile inter-dependence between the two.

The geomorphology of Ladakh is not suited for agriculture due to the high altitude, low rainfall, and absence of topsoil. In such a circumstance, subsistence agriculture was entirely dependent on manure from livestock to prepare and till the soil and so on. Without the latter two inputs, the former is likely to turn unsustainable with over-dependence

on inorganic inputs to prepare the soil. Co-operative societies in Ladakh are distributing inorganic fertilizers to cope with the shortage of organic manure. The only village to retain its organic practices and shun inorganic inputs is Stakmachik village in Sham area, and the village was declared an organic village recently. However, in the Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh, LAHDC has come up with schemes of mission organic development initiatives to promote organic farming to make Ladakh an organic UT. Hence, the demand for organic manure is projected to increase thereby creating a significant supply gap in case the traditional pastoral system is disrupted.

In contrast, in the Changthang region of Eastern Ladakh, pastoralism continues to be the dominant economy, as practised by the nomadic herders of the region. This prevalence of pastoralism even among highly educated newer generations of the herding community in the Eastern Ladakh could also represent a socio-political divide. The herding communities in eastern Ladakh are mostly Tibetan refugees who generally face a lack of other employment opportunities. Thus, they continue to engage in the traditional pastoral practices that have proven to be highly lucrative and sustainable.

The younger generation of the herding community in other areas of Ladakh have been weaned away from traditional agro-pastoral practices and are now looking at increased unemployment since tourism income and government schemes are on the verge of saturation. Post graduate students are applying for class IV jobs in government sectors due to the lack of suitable employment options. Moreover, influx of cheap labour from other states have further compounded the employment problem of the local communities.

Let us consider the example of Gya village in Leh district. The village is in a state of transition with the number of herders reducing to 12 from 24 within a span for 50 years. This has also impacted other families in the village who own livestock since herders are no longer available to tend to their livestock. The next generation of the herder families are reluctant to take up herding despite it being a lucrative option. Several reasons may be attributed to this shift including low social status of herders, enticement of jobs in Border Roads Organization, and the difficult life of managing several hundreds of livestock during harsh winters in remote regions.

Herders often face harsh conditions in the winter pastures with no heating and access to other facilities. Hence, the morale of the herders is dampened despite a steady profit from their vocations. However, it is important to note here that since aeons, livestock rearing has encouraged human-wildlife co-existence. This type of landuse has helped maintain the ecological balance in this landscape and retain the highly significant flora and fauna unique to this region. Thus, it is important to preserve the traditional livelihood options to further the nature and wildlife conservation cause.

Having said that, to keep up with current times, it is important to encourage innovations in these traditional livelihoods to make it relevant and attractive to younger generations. Innovations such as solar-heated structures (passive solar rooms), access to communication, lighting, sanitation, medical facilities, and even some satellite television units could potentially attract newer generations to take up herding as a vocation or even as an enterprise. Incentive schemes for the herders such as state recognition and awards for best herders could help increase the social status of the herders. For instance, the Ladakh Pashmina Fellowship by Nature Conservation Foundation encourages young generation of herder families to explore traditional livelihoods with better innovations. Similar schemes could be taken up by Government and Non-Government agencies to promote and facilitate such innovations in traditional livelihoods to ensure the fragile balance of the agro-pastoral ecology of Ladakh is maintained for future generations to come.