HIGHLIGHTS

• Estimated 90 lakh sheep in northern Karnataka
• 5 lakh families in the Deccan region depend on sheep rearing
• Not all of them are Kurubas – some belong to other castes and ethnic groups like Gollas, Kurmas, Lambadas and Dalits in Andhra Pradesh; Kurubas, Kadu gollas, Lamanis, Bedars, Gollas and Dalits in Karnataka; Dhanghars, Kurubas and Dalits in Maharashtra; and Kurubas in Tamil Nadu
• Kurubas
  • Traditional sheep keepers in the northern Karnataka districts of Belgaum, Bagalkot, Koppal, Dharwar and Haveri and others
  • Semi-nomadic, moving with their flocks for between three to nine months a year
  • May also take on lease some land for part of the year to grow crops such as sorghum, wheat, maize, oil seeds, minor millets and cotton
• Many of the sheep rearers are also members of village cooperative societies. There are an estimated 5,000 such societies in the Deccan, most of them in Maharashtra and Karnataka. Most are into collecting deposits and lending
• There are a few unique institutions like the Belagavi-based Jagruta Kurubara Kuri Mattu Unne Utpadakara Sangha that has been involved in training and awareness campaigns like vaccination, nutrition, value addition for wool products and women’s empowerment. The society was started in 1990 after the rinderpest epidemic of 1989 by Neelkanth Mama of Uchagaon

WHAT IS PRODUCED

• Produce a range of products and services
• Most important, but least regarded is manure and tillage
• PENNING
  • Farmers welcome shepherds and their flocks onto their fields during the fallow period, as the sheep eat weeds and other vegetation, and leave behind manure and urine that fertilizes the soil. This process is called penning
  • The animals’ hooves also break up clods of earth and help prepare the soil for planting. Farmers pay up to rupees three per sheep per day for penning. Rarely, it works on barter when shepherds collect grains after harvest
• During the monsoon from July to September, the shepherds move their animals to an area with lower rainfall and pen them in fields, where they collect manure to sell.
• The shepherds sell male lambs aged 3–6 months at a weight of 10–18 kg in weekly livestock markets. An animal may cost between ₹3,000 to ₹6,000 depending on the weight and build of the animal. Shepherds sell the females after around 10 lambing cycles.
• Sheep are sheared twice a year, before winter (in October or November) and before the monsoon (in April or May). A sheep may produce 250–500 grams of coarse wool. Men shear while women sort in two grades: lamb wool and adult wool. About one-quarter of the fleece is fine, good quality wool whose fibre is suitable for spinning
• Another quarter of the fleece is very coarse which is used for making kamblis and caps.
• The Dakhani sheep is famed for its wool. In fact, it is the only naturally evolved animal with wool that can be sheared in an economically feasible manner. Contrary to popular perception, wool comes in seven natural colours- shades of white, black and brown. Most shepherds shear their own animals using scissors, though some work is outsourced to a sub community called Katrigars
• The shepherds milk their animals and make buttermilk and butter, mostly for use in the breeder’s family. These products are usually not sold, but given to lactating mothers, infants and the sick, free of cost.

HOW MARKET WORKS

• The demand for meat and hence the price, has increased exponentially. But the price of other materials has remained steady for over a decade. The prime reason for this is the beef ban imposed in some states like Karnataka.
• Other problems include hybridisation that has altered the character of native sheep, and allowing imports of shoddy wool, the fibre recovered from waste blankets and jackets from U.S.A. and Europe
• Some state governments are also promoting breeds like the Red Nellore, Yelgu and Madgiyal aimed at producing meat rather than wool
• As a result of these trends, the pure bred Dakhani has been in decline.

HAND HOLDING BY NGOS

• The Shramik Abhivrudhi Sangh (SAS)
  • Been working in the area since the 1990s
  • Recognised the need to conserve the Dakhani breed
  • Project that began in 1996
  • Helped local women produce and market bags and other handicrafts made of jute and cotton fibre
• Women were trained in modern product design by a team of designers headed by Varsha Rani, a design faculty from JD institute of fashion and Rashmi Shivakumar
• Future Greens, a Bagalkot-based NGO, has been promoting farmer producing organisations among shepherding groups
• A team led by veterinarian Balu Athani has promoted 26 FPOs in a decade

DEMANDS OF SHEPHERDS

• Include comprehensive insurance cover for sheep and shepherds, establishment of veterinary hospitals in villages and remote areas, universal vaccination and health care services, formal markets for non-meat products and a subsidy for penning as farmers are unable to pay higher prices and policy changes in the import policy
• Opposes indiscriminate hybridisation as it affects native breeds
• Army and central and state police should go back to using native wool blankets, rugs, jackets and gloves instead of using imported woollen goods