As the traditional winter pasturelands in Ladakh have become out of bounds for the Pashmina goat shephards due to incursions of Chinese army, the union territory (UT) administration has rushed 2600 quintals of fodder and pelleted feed to the Changthang area to save the valuable goats from starvation.

An official spokesman of UT of Ladakh said on Wednesday that several other steps have been taken to save the livestock during the ongoing harsh winter and snow.

Hundreds of Pashmina goat rearers particularly in 54 villages of the Changthang area have lost assess to the pasturelands and are unable to migrate to the winter pastures for past two years due to presence of Chinese troops in these areas. Several goats had perished last year.

Divisional Commissioner, Ladakh, Saugat Biswas said that inconvenience faced by the Changthang nomads during the cold winter months for grazing their livestock in the forward areas is being taken up actively by the District Magistrate, Leh and the office of the Divisional Commissioner with the local formations of the 14 Corps of the Indian Army. The Army in coordination with the district administration will pave ways for easing grazing activities of the animal rearers.

The Secretary, Animal, Sheep, Husbandry and Fisheries, Ravinder Kumar said that the feed distribution in the Durbuk region shall commence and approximately 422 quintals of feed is to be distributed amongst the nomads and herders as per the livestock strength. Additionally, Councilors of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) shall also visit and supervise the process of distribution. Once it is completed, the situation will be reassessed and a contingency stock available with the Department of Animal and Sheep Husbandry will be used depending upon the severity of the disaster and further requirements.

Kumar said that the Sheep Husbandry has stocked approximately 2,600 quintals of feed for the Changthang region which shall be distributed as and when required. Similarly, the Department of Animal Husbandry has 588 quintals for the Nyoma sub-division and 533 quintals of contingency stock for Durbuk Block. Around 100 quintals of feed has already been stocked at Nyoma for further distribution.
Chushul’s Councillor Konchok Stanzin met the Lt. Governor of Ladakh RK Mathur and discussed the issue of development of pasturelands for the long run.

Last year 1,300 quintals of free pelleted feed and 350 quintals of fodder was made available and this year 3,200 quintals of feed and 500 quintals of fodder have been provided for winter supplementary feeding in Changthang. Additionally, seven fodder and feed banks and four more structures will be raised this year. 100% of sheep and goats have been immunised against Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and all of them have been vaccinated against external parasites.

It was observed that mortality figures have evidently improved; a survey to quantify the improvement in mortality figures is underway.
Further, a sum of Rs.5 crore has been made available to All Changthang Pashmina Growers Cooperative Marketing Society,(ACPGCMS) Leh, for pashmina procurement and this has helped stabilise pashmina price which has stayed above Rs 3000 per kg even though there was a supply demand mismatch due to prevailing COVID situation in the national and international market. GI tagging of pashmina fibre of Ladakh is also under process.