The memory of the drought of 2021 was fresh in her mind even a year later. That year, as she had always hoped and prayed, Sohdi was looking forward to good rains when she sowed her three-acre spread with millets, guar and lentils. But no rain fell and her seedlings withered under the merciless sun.

The next year, she underwent agricultural training by Community World Service Asia and with it received an 8-kilogram bag of millet seeds. She sowed half of that, saving the remainder to be used in 2023. But if 2021 was the year of the drought, 2022 turned out to be the year of the floods. In July when her seedlings seemed to be coming along nicely, the rain began and for the next eight weeks it did not let up. In fact, when it did pause for a couple of hours, the sun did not show because of the thick, dark overcast. Sohdi knew it then that there would be little or nothing to harvest. No surprise then that in November she reaped a mere 40 kilograms from her entire millet patch. That was less than a quarter of the usual yield when rains come on time.

The land she had under guar, mong and sesame did only marginally better. The entire crop which with less but timely rain should have fetched upward of PKR 60,000 (Approx. USD 208) accrued her a mere PKR 20,000 (Approx. USD 69). The last instalment of food aid was behind her, but she still had rations to see her and her five sons through another month. Ever judicious, Sohdi invested PKR 6000 (Approx. USD 21) to purchase a goat. A little paid for dry rations and clothing for her boys. The remaining amount was given away as a wedding gift to a relative. Why couldn’t this unnecessary expense be avoided in these difficult times?

“This had to be done because when my sons wed, they will receive similar presents. This is our age-old way. It has to be followed,” she explained.

Meanwhile, over the past six months when she did not have to purchase rations, Sohdi had saved up nearly PKR 14,000 (Approx. USD 49) from her eldest son Chanesar’s earning. The boy, an unskilled construction labourer, is an expert in building thorn hedges that surround the compound of most houses in Umerkot. But one of the goats died of illness following the non-stop rain. Nevertheless, things looked reasonable for Sohdi and her boys because she was not under debt when the new year dawned.

“I and so many others like me who faced the same situation in 2021, were lucky that we had food assistance. Had that not been in place, we would all have owed the local storekeeper nothing less than PKR 60,000 each,” she said with hands held together in a gesture of thankfulness.

In early February 2023, Sohdi knew there was no more food assistance, and so she had plans. In four weeks she and Chanesar will leave for the canal-irrigated region to the west of Umerkot district. For four weeks thereafter they will help in the wheat harvest and return home with about 360 kilograms of wheat as their wages. Earlier, since the death of her husband and the boys being too young to work, Sohdi had always gone alone to the harvest. The wages for a single person had never added up to more than 120 kilograms.

What she and her boy will earn in wheat grain will last them just two months. Then, said Sohdi, it will be time to sow the summer crops and hope that neither deluge nor drought hits them again. Meanwhile, Chanesar will be hard at work building his thorn hedges not just for his own village but he will even go to neighbouring ones wherever his expertise is needed.

“He’ll have to work hard because he is engaged to be married next winter,” Sohdi disclosed. Cutting every nonessential expense, Sohdi planned to save for the big day when Chanesar dresses as the groom.

But despite all one’s good wishes for the people of Umerkot, one could not say how nature would treat them next summer. What if, God forbid, the rains do not help?

“I am fortunate to be totally free of loan right now. If the crop is a success in November, we will have plenty of food and cash for the wedding. If not, I can always borrow as I have done in the past.”

For Sohdi and so many others like her, the loan is a cyclical burden: she goes under debt, harvests a good crop and repays. A year goes by without it and then if need be, she borrows again. For her, a widow, the other fall back is the kindness of relatives who always come forward to help her in dire situations. And so life goes on for Sohdi, her five boys and innumerable other people of Umerkot who depend on summer rains for survival.

Home to 50.4 million people and vast agricultural lands, Sindh is vital to Pakistan’s economyⁱ. About 37 percent of Sindh’s rural population which is almost half of the province’s entire populace, lives below the poverty lineⁱⁱ. The province is particularly vulnerable to natural hazards due to its geographical location, socioeconomic vulnerability, and extreme climatic conditions.

Sindh has been disproportionately affected by different climatic hazards in recent years, including flash floods, droughts, cyclones and heatwaves. In 2022 alone, different regions of the province were simultaneously hit by a drought, heatwave and floods. These disasters significantly damaged people’s houses, livelihoods, livestock, agricultural and irrigation systems and the overall infrastructure, leaving millions displaced and in need of immediate humanitarian and long-term assistance.

Umerkot’s food insecurity in driven by underlying poverty, locust invasion, COVID-19, droughts and the recent floods. In the recent floods, a total of 1,860 houses have been damaged, affecting a population of 109,246 and displacing 18,207 men, women and children in Mirpurkhas and Umerkot. In response to the crises, Community World Service Asia (CWSA) with the support of Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe (DKH) is supporting disaster affected communities by promoting kitchen gardening as an integral part of the farming system among women in Umerkot. Though, most families in the target villages were primarily small-scale agrarian households, many of them did not keep or maintain vegetable gardens before.

Rural women in this part of the province are solely engaged in domestic chores such as cooking and ensuring that the family is well-fed and taken care of. To increase their household decision-making role and ensure a sustainable livelihood and food security source, our project focused on the women of the affected communities as key participants of the kitchen gardening activities planned under the projectⁱⁱⁱ. Since July (2022), 500 men and women, out of which 56% are women, have been trained on sustainable farming and kitchen gardening.

Jamna, a mother of three children, lives in Revo Kolhi village of Umerkot district. Jamna’s husband, Jagsi, worked in the agricultural lands near their home in return for a small share of crops or daily wages. “He was unable to work in the fields due to continuous rains and floods this year. That meant no source of livelihood for our family. When I learned about the kitchen gardening training from the village leader, I was eager to be part of it as this initiative would allow us access to fresh vegetables and fruits at our doorstep and would give us a chance to improve the food security of our family and our growing children.”

After participating in the kitchen gardening training in July, Jamna prepared her patch of land from the kitchen gardening seedsⁱᵛ she received along with a gardening tool kitᵛ.

“At the training, I learnt household techniques for effective plantation of seasonal vegetables and fruits using minimum land and water. Today, I am a skilled and confident woman, proudly supporting my family financially and putting healthy food on the table. My two children under four years help me in the garden as well. They enjoy taking care of the vegetables and sharing with their friends their contribution towards growing healthy food.”

Jamna began to sell the surplus of her garden’s produce in the village, which helped her earn an estimate of PKR 500 every week (Approx. USD 2). “Okra, ridged gourd seed, indian squash, wild melon, bottle gourd, bitter gourd and brinjal are among the vegetables I am growing in the garden. I cook these vegetables at home, allowing me to serve diverse dishes every day. I began to save the money I used to spend to buy vegetables from the market and have saved additionally by selling the surplus. Eventually, I bought a goat from the savings. I plan to buy more livestock in the near future from saving more money. This way I will sustain my livelihoods. In times of future emergencies, my husband will not have to stress over looking for work. Our garden and livestock will help us provide for food and keep us healthy.”

This project is helping increase food security and resilience of local agrarian communities affected by extreme climate conditions. Jamna’s husband, Jagsi, received cash assistance, in July and August 2022, under the same project of PKR 24,000 for three consecutive months. “From the cash support, Jagsi bought groceries including flour, sugar, tea and other staple goods to compliment the dishes I am making from the home grown fresh vegetables,” says Jamna. The kitchen gardening and cash support is helping affected families like Jamna’s to overcome food insecurity and rebuild their lives.

ⁱ https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/factsheet/2022/12/19/factsheet-sindh-flood-emergency-rehabilitation-project
ⁱⁱ Worldbank fact sheet 2022
ⁱⁱⁱ Strengthening the livelihoods and resilience of vulnerable agricultural communities in rural Sindh, Pakistan
ⁱᵛ All the participants in the trainings received 50 grams of diverse vegetable seeds including okra, Indian squash, bottle ground, bitter ground, wild melon, eggplant seed and ridged guard.
ᵛ Including Hand sprinkler, Hoe, Rake, Sickle, Hay rake and Green Net