Sustainable Food Security for Families in the Deh Akro-II Complex in Pakistan

Project Duration:

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July 2011 – June 2012

Pakistan

Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V. and Rapunzel Naturkost AG financed by the HAND IN HAND Fund

SANGAT

Provision of basic necessities to flood affected people in Pakistan

Global Nature Fund supports the partner organisation SANGAT in situ

In the district of Sindh, approx. 80 % of the houses were destroyed by the heavy rains and inundations in August and September 2011, currently many flood victims live in open air. Only 30 % of their domestic animals have survived the floods and the complete harvest was destroyed. In the affected areas, wheat could not be cultivated thus during the next months serious food shortage and malnutrition will be the consequence of the disaster.

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Background

In August 2010, and now again, heavy rainfall has caused devastating floods in many parts of Pakistan. Pakistan and its people were experiencing the worst natural calamity of its history covering an area the size of Great Britain. Many people lost their houses or livelihoods such as cattle and pastry, many of them even their lives. Since 2010, the Global Nature Fund has been cooperating with the Pakistani environmental organisation SANGAT Development Foundation and to find solutions to the current problems in the desert wetland Deh Akro-II.

The local people at the Deh-Akro II are very poor and mostly live from subsistence agriculture. The poorest depend completely on the natural resources provided by the wetland. The situation is aggravated by increasing overexploitation of the area leading to reduced quantity of food available. The farmers graze their livestock along the lake shores thus destroying the remaining bushes and trees growing in the wetland, which are, however, important to maintain the species variety and the ecosystem. Illegal wood trade contributes to further degradation of nature. 

Project measures

In the first instance the project shall help to improve the food situation of about 15 families in the villages of Eidan Bhatti and Muhammad Yousif Dahri in the long term. 

To begin with seminars on nature conservation and vegetable gardening will be held for women, and two women groups from two villages will be specially trained. Afterwards they will be able to organise regular meetings. The integration of women into the project is very important as, in the rural regions, they are responsible for the food supply. Therefore women are the central target group for the demonstration of possibilities for the alternative utilisation of the area and their implementation in the long term. Additionally, they are responsible for the education of their children. Two advanced training courses will contribute to increase the environmental awareness within the families, which will be indirectly transmitted to the children and future generations. The project contributes to strengthen the role of the women. For the first time, women will be organised in groups (a group in each village). This will increase their reputation within the community.

The local project manager of the partner organisation will advise women how to grow vegetables in their household gardens such as onions, potatoes, taros, aubergines, mushrooms and cucurbits. As the Deh Akro-II region is very dry and arid, a drip irrigation system will be installed within the project. This equipment is a very important investment for the 15 families as it will create a stable food security situation for them. In the long term, other families will benefit from assigned vegetable farmland, which will be connected to the irrigation system as well.

Additionally, the women groups will plant 4,000 indigenous trees near their houses, particularly fruit trees such as the Indian Jujube. On the one hand, the fruit trees contribute to the food security of the families, on the other hand they are of great ecological importance as they improve the soils in the Deh Akro-II desert wetland complex.

The project is supported by the Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V. and Rapunzel Naturkost AG financed by the HAND IN HAND Fund.

More information about the Deh Akro-II Complex ...