factors influencing yak herding in upper haa
TRANSCRIPT
![Page 1: factors influencing yak herding in upper haa](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032619/55c4c65ebb61eb7b708b475a/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Socio-Economic Factors Influencing Yak Herding in
Upper Haa
Kinley Dorjee
B.Sc Sustainable Development
Guide tutor
Dr. Tshering Gyeltshen
![Page 2: factors influencing yak herding in upper haa](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032619/55c4c65ebb61eb7b708b475a/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
• Yak herding is practiced in areas located at elevations ranging from 1,000 to 5,600
masl
• Yak farming is Practiced in the ten northern Dzongkhags in Bhutan
• Accounts for 5.2% of the total livestock population and total population of yak in
2013 was 38011 yaks (Department of Livestock, 2013).
• Yaks are main source of livelihood in the higher elevations and are associated to
culture, religion and social life of its herders, their families and communities
• Yak population is declining in most part of the country and especially in Haa
Introduction
![Page 3: factors influencing yak herding in upper haa](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032619/55c4c65ebb61eb7b708b475a/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
Trend in Yak Herders in Haa
2010 2011 2012 2013 20140
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Series1; 89
89
74
97
77
Series1; 1012
5 9
6
Series1; 23 2319
2919
Series1; 56
54
50
59
52
Chart Title
BjeKatshoEsu Total
Figure 1: Trend in yak farming households in 3 Gewogs
![Page 4: factors influencing yak herding in upper haa](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032619/55c4c65ebb61eb7b708b475a/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
Trend in Yak Population in Haa
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
32273944
3514 35112872
1093
727
727 947
657
575440
520428
313
Bji Katsho Esu
47614886
3842
2011 20132012 20142010
Figure 2: Trend in yak population in 3 Gewogs
4895 5111
![Page 5: factors influencing yak herding in upper haa](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032619/55c4c65ebb61eb7b708b475a/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
Objectives
a. Identify socio-cultural factors influencing yak herding in upper Haa
b. Analyze the economic benefits of Yak Farming
![Page 6: factors influencing yak herding in upper haa](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032619/55c4c65ebb61eb7b708b475a/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
Materials and Methods
Figure 3: Map of Haa Dzongkhag showing the study area
Study Area• The study was conducted in Bjee, Katsho
and Esu Gewogs
• Located at latitude of 27° 15' 54" N and
longitude of 89° 10' 14" E
• About 33.06 % of the total area is under
Tsamdro (pasture land) (Dorji, 2013).
• Altitudes ranging from 1,400 - 4,800 masl,
Bjee
KatshoEsu
![Page 7: factors influencing yak herding in upper haa](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032619/55c4c65ebb61eb7b708b475a/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
Forty household were selected for the survey
• Bjee Gewog-23 respondents
• Katsho Gewog- 11 respondents
• Esu Gewog-6 respondents
Sample Size
Sampling Method Stratified randomized sampling was carried out using lottery
• Each Gewog was considered as different cluster
• Took 40% of the total yak herders from each Gewog based on data of 2010
![Page 8: factors influencing yak herding in upper haa](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032619/55c4c65ebb61eb7b708b475a/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
Data Collection
• Structured questionnaire was used for data collection
• Information such as people’s comments on the yak rearing was collected
through open ended questionnaires
• Data collection was carried out from 20th December 2014 -1 January 2015
Data Analysis
Data was analysed using IBM-SPSS version 22.0
• Inferential and descriptive statistics was used to analyse data
• Means of the different variables were compared using t-test
• Correlation was performed to see association between the variables
![Page 9: factors influencing yak herding in upper haa](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032619/55c4c65ebb61eb7b708b475a/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
Results:Factors Influencing Yak Herding
![Page 10: factors influencing yak herding in upper haa](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032619/55c4c65ebb61eb7b708b475a/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
Labor Shortage
Availability of labourFrequency Percent
Easily available 4 10Not very easy 17 42.5Not available at all 19 47.5Total 40 100
35%
48%
18% very_high high
average
• The average wage for the hired
labor is Nu. 6,000 per month
• The high labor charge was the
result of shortage of labor and
demand for labor
Figure 4: Respondents views on labor charge in the study area
Table2: Availability of labor in the study area
![Page 11: factors influencing yak herding in upper haa](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032619/55c4c65ebb61eb7b708b475a/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
Pasture land degradation
• Yak herders of Haa moves to Tsamdros
situated on the border for the summer
months and shares Tsamdros with 3 hh’s
on average
• Their winter pastures are shared by the
cattle, mainly the Thanors that are kept
during the summer months (Northue)
and horses
45%
35%
20%
Chart Title
yes
no
no change
Figure 5: Pasture land degradation and decrease in palatable grasses in the tsamdros
![Page 12: factors influencing yak herding in upper haa](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032619/55c4c65ebb61eb7b708b475a/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
Geographical and Boarder issues
Encounter conflict
Plans to shift to other activities
Encounter conflict 1 0.8
Plans to shift to other activities
201
• The yak herders share pasture land with
Tibetan Autonomous region’s (TAR) yak
herders during the summer months
• Bhutanese herders were denied to follow traditional grazing rights and collect firewood
• TAR herders asks for Threl
• Bhutanese herders are not allowed to replace or graze in the Tsamdros of those who abandon yak herding.
Table 2: Correlation table showing the correlation between conflict encountered and plans to shift to other activities
![Page 13: factors influencing yak herding in upper haa](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032619/55c4c65ebb61eb7b708b475a/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
Mortality and Disease in Yak
72%11%
13%4%
1% gid
wild animals
poisonong
dogs
others
• At least one animal dies either due to
Gid, predators, poisoning or the stray
dogs
• Attack of stray dog is however
expected to decrease due to
intervention of JKSNR
• The gid alone caused 114 deaths in
2014 from the 20 YFH interviewed Figure 6: Causes of yak mortality in the study area
![Page 14: factors influencing yak herding in upper haa](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032619/55c4c65ebb61eb7b708b475a/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
Sources of Livelihood and Income Generation
business
taxi/hire vehicle
carpentery/masonary
labour
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
YHAH
YFH
• Average household income from business is
Nu.268,750
• Those with low income level from the agricultural
activities focuses more on off farm activities
• For the YFH, 65% of the respondents doesn’t do
any of the off farm activities
• mean annual income generated from agricultural
activities including horticulture in 2014 was
Nu.17300 and 11075 respectively for the YFH and
YFAH. Figure 5: Off-farm activities taken by YFH and YFAH
![Page 15: factors influencing yak herding in upper haa](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032619/55c4c65ebb61eb7b708b475a/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
Government Policies and Regulation
15%
25%
20%
18%
23%
not effective at all
effective to some extend
effective
very effective
excellent
• Government policies such as targeted highland
development and establishment of Chhundugang Yak
Century supports yak herding in the area.
• Unlike in other dzongkhags, 60% of the respondents
didn’t encounter any conflicts due to declaration of
pasture land as state property.
• Restriction on controlled burning for better regeneration
hinders their traditional management system
• Declaration of Tsamdro areas as Strict nature Reserve
helped the herders to combat loss of yaks to poachers Figure 6: Level of effectiveness of government policies
![Page 16: factors influencing yak herding in upper haa](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032619/55c4c65ebb61eb7b708b475a/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
Economic Benefit of Yak Farming
A. Cost
Total variable cost (TVC) 200,000
Total fix cost (TFC) 8,100
Total cost=TVC+TFC 208,100
B. Benefit
Total benefit 335,500
Annual net saving (B-A) 127,400
Table 4: Summary of cost benefit of yak herding
Amount in Nu.
![Page 17: factors influencing yak herding in upper haa](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032619/55c4c65ebb61eb7b708b475a/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
Conclusion
• Yak herding is declining due to the various factors such as labor shortage, diseases and trans-
boundary issues.
• Small family size due to increasing number of youths going to educational centers discourages
them from taking up of yak herding as livelihood
• Despite animal health care from the extension centers, the Frequency of Gid is still high in the
Dzongkhag
• Market constrain is another issue in the locality. During the summer months their only market
for the yak and its products is markets across the border
• Yak herding is a profitable job although it involves hardships
![Page 18: factors influencing yak herding in upper haa](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032619/55c4c65ebb61eb7b708b475a/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
Acknowledgement
I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the following person for their time and effort in shaping my study:
• Dr.Tshering Gyeltshen, guide tutor
• Kuenga Lhendup, Younten Jamtsho and Sonam Tshering for their effort during data collection
• DLO of Haa dzongkhag
• Golo Tshering, focal person, Chhundugang Yak Century
• Dr. Sonam Lhamo, dzongkhag vetenary hospital, Haa
• Rinchen Choden, data manager, livestock statistics section
• Jojo Tshampa and Penjor
• My parents, siblings and relatives for their support
![Page 19: factors influencing yak herding in upper haa](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032619/55c4c65ebb61eb7b708b475a/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
THANK YOU