Poor and their Livestock

Abstract

Based on field work carried out in 13 locations across the country, this article aims to characterize the current situation regarding how the poor manage the water requirement for their livestock. It is found that each day on an average the poor require 13 litres of drinking water for animals and about 40 litres for washing and cleaning them. The poor households in western, central and southern parts of the country have a more difficult time managing water requirements of their livestock and in times of water scarcity these difficulties become very severe. They rely on water sources in the public domain and often use the sources created for human drinking end use. Markets for water for the poor appear to exist only in those pockets where livestock rearing has assumed commercial nature. Elsewhere, social norms such as the Jeevdaya tradition of Gujarat and Rajasthan, and reliance on water sources owned by the big farmers, are more the norm. Considering the importance of livestock to the household economy of the poor, greater public attention to this issue is called for.