Manang — The traditional occupation of yak husbandry has been at the brink in Manang district. Some folks in Manang have been struggling to sustain this traditional occupation, which has made an identity in the mountainous districts. However, shrinking pastureland due to avalanche has had a severe impact on the yaks that thrive by grazing the grass and medicinal herbs on the laps of the Himalayas.
Ongol Gurung, 80, never realized the difference between the chilling winter and summer in the past. He used to wear heavy woolen jackets and 4 to 5 thick clothes even in the summer as well until some 15 to 20 years ago. But, now he can tolerate the cold even by wearing a general jacket.
It’s been eight decades Gurung is involved in yak husbandry but unimaginative problems have been happening which he had not experienced ever before. The snowfall used to occur even from theDharapani village in the lower Manang but now snowfall takes place only in the upper area in the district. The glaciers in the district were completely snowcapped. According to Ongel, mountains looked beautiful because of the small ball-like lines of the snows in the past. But, now the glaciers have changed in to the riverbeds. The pasturelands used to getcovered with snows for months. But, now this is a rare incident as the snow vanishes when it falls.
In the past, every individual used to have around 300 to 400 yaks. The entire pasturelands were filled with yaks. But, now the pasturelands have changed into the riverbanks. He had also around 200 yaks years ago but he could not manage them with changing weather due to which his yaks has been reduced to only 70.The entire villagers used to rear the yaks. There used to around 1000 to 1200 yaks grazing in the pasture lands. It would take the entire period of the summer while visiting the Gumchhang, Yakkharka and Khangsar to Tilicho base camp to the pasturelands in Mustang district. And, gradually they used to move downwards from the upper belt in the district with the unset of the winter, Gurung shares his experience.
Similarly, another yak farmer Tapke Gurung, 65, has the same stories to share. Gurung, who has been raising yaks for the past four decades on, also talks about the climate change in recent years saying that he had difficulties to combat the biting cold even while wearing heavy thick woolen clothes even during the summer.
The glaciers in the region used to begin from the villages but now there is no snow even atop the Himalayas. The yak raising occupation has faced lots of hardships due to such extreme changes in the climate while the existence of the Himalayas is also at high risk. Sixty-year-old Tasi Funjo from Nar village in the district who passed his half of the life by raising yaks shares lots of overwhelming yet same experiences to other villages. Everyone is spellbound from his real life stories and the incidents that he encountered in the pasturelands of Nar.
Funjo, who happens to reside in the sheds of the yak from his tender age, has the experiences from all the pasturelands, namely from the Kanla highlands to Ice Lake located at an altitude of 4,600 metres and Phukokyang to Tibet’s border. He has also gained the experiences of rescuing yaks languished in the snow and taking care of the yaks wounded by snow leopards. He has been earning his livelihoods by producing the dairy products from the yak’s milk i.e cheese and butter.
The folks around here prepare woolen clothes like Pherpa, Docha, Bhoto, Bhangra, Radi, Pakhi and other necessary for their living. Keeping the yaks in the pasturelands located on the laps of the Himalayas and collecting medicinal herbs and going downwards by carrying those medicinal herbs along with the yaks is a longstanding practice of those folks in Manang. In order to escape the chilling cold, the people move for seasonal migration to the outer districts including Lamjung, Tanahun, Pokhara and Kathmandu and either they sell those invaluable herbs or exchange with rice and come back home with the start of summer, according to Khamba Gurung, an elderly yak farmer in the district. As the pasturelands are above 4,000 meter of altitude, the weather is favorable for yaks, another yak farmer Suresh Thakali shared. But, he is not happy with the local people for making this forest animal as the domestic one. They have made lucrative income from raising yaks. It is not necessary to place yaks in mountain’s base but they must be kept in the proper climatic condition, Thakali observes. The unseasonal avalanches followed by the impacts of the climate change and the vanishing pasturelands have added to difficulties to the yak rearing, Khamba shared.
He says he has been enjoying playing with yaks since the age of 10. He has the 20 years of experiences of yaks handling and observing the grazing lands. In past years, while travelling to and from the pastureland, he used to see the snow leopards chasing away the goral, deer, boar, mongoose and other mountainous animals. But, these days this is a rare incident as neither he sees leopards nor the deer. The geography is sandy and empty.
As experienced by Naphka Mingmar Lama, everything has changed its place. “The source of water flowing through the gorge of Himalayas has dried up; the medicinal herbs are rare and the herders’ gangs with their yaks are no more visible there. Now, there are just one or two sheds and that to are about to close for lack of pasturelands,” Lama observed the changes.
During the rainy season, we used to reach upto the borderline of Nepal-Tibet by herding the yaks. And, with the beginning of the winter season and snowfall, the sheds were shifted around the villages from the pasturelands. Yangdung Gurung of Nishyang-3 recalls the same memories of the past. “As herders were in large numbers, we used to enjoy by horse-riding and archery. There was no unseasonal snowfall like at present. The snowfall used to occur only in the winter season,” he said. There was sufficient grass in the pastureland but now the pasturelands are washed away by the avalanches. There is no grass and the grazing areas are covered with unseasonal snowfall. Gurung said that the yaks are dead following the biting cold.
A few years back, a large number of people in Manang used to do yak husbandry but now only a few of them have continued their traditional occupation for lack grazing lands. According to the District Livestock Office, the number of yaks farmers has decreased to around five from 20 to 25 yak farmers in each village. Environmentalist Dr. Bhola Biduwa said that unseasonal snowfall, avalanches following the excessive snowmelt due to rise in temperature, extinction of grass in the grazing lands and infectious diseases in the yaks are some of the live examples of climate change. The avalanches and unseasonal snowfall have cost very high to the pasture lands in Manang. Gradual vanishing of the grazing lands due to avalanches and sparse grass availability has taken toll on the farmers. The Livestock Service Office said that currently yak farming is also initiated in different places like Yak Kharka, Icelek, Namkelek, Danfelek, Kyang and also in Bhimtang by registering the commercial farms aiming at to preserve their occupation.
Dr. Surya Prasad Paudal, Senior Livestock Development Officer shared that till date there are a total of 3,272 yaks in Manang there. And, altogether 15 yak farms have been registered so far in the District Cottage and Small Industry Office. Likewise, there are more than 15 yak farms, which are run without official registration. The reason behind reduction of yaks is due to lack of pasture lands, according to Dr Poudel. Studies are ongoing to resolve the problems yak farmers are facing. He said that the yaks have suffered from malnutrition caused due to lack of grazing lands and pneumonia. And to cure those yaks, the District Livestock Service Office is doing its best, Dr Poudel argues. He said that the though the local people are planting grass in the pasture lands and other measures for the prevention of the diseases in yak, no measures is effective. He said that researches are underway for the alternative options of the pasturelands and ways to make the yak husbandry more accessible. Some farmers have insured their animals whereas some are yet to do, according to the livestock insurance company. One of the peasants of Manang, Suresh Thakali, said that he was worried by the status of the yak farmers and has started a yak shed at the altitude of 2,200 as a test but it has turned a successful venture. Despite lots of difficulties at the beginning, he has now breathed a sigh of relief.
If the peasants were to give continuity to their occupation, they need to establish alternative pasture lands, Thakali suggested, adding that the flat land in the villages can be converted to the grazing areas and also the yaks can be reared by arranging feeds for them. According to the District Forests Office, there is not even a private pastureland and the yaks are kept in the community pasturelands. The community pasturelands have occupied 37,760 hectare of land. However, most of the pasturelands have turned into the river banks due to the avalanches. No matter the extent of their situation, the hope of folks in Manang to rear yaks has not faded up. Yak farmer Kanchha Gurung said that they have to give continuity to the yak rearing since it is the main source of living for them. The livelihood of people in Manang heavily depends on medicinal herbs, animal husbandry and tourism business. But, nowadays it is hard for them to do yak husbandry. At a time when the call for modernization in pastoral farming is on the rise, commercialization of animal husbandry is imperative in collaboration with the private, public and non-governmental agencies. Besides on human lives, the impacts of climate change on the yak farmers and pasturelands is also severe in Manang and due to which peasant are expecting the helps for alternative pasture land. Fencing the pasturelands and fixing the solar plate in each sheds would help ensure the security of the pasturelands from the avalanches and wild animals. As their traditional occupation is on the verge of extinction, it would get continuity provided the proper heed from the local, province and federal governments.
