Myagdi. Purna Bahadur Jaisi, 74, of Khamla, Dhawalagiri Rural Municipality-4, has given up buffalo rearing for the past 57 years.

Purna Bahadur, who had been rearing buffaloes in a mobile shed in the jungle since the age of 18, started selling buffaloes and staying at home. “I went to the jungle to rear buffaloes as I could not reject my parents’ request even though I was selected to join the Indian Gurkha Army,” said Purna Bahadur, adding, “I sold my buffaloes and started living at home as I could not live in a shed due to health problems with old age.” ”

Purna Bahadur said he raised his son and three daughters by selling buffaloes, buffaloes and ghee. “The number of buffaloes that started with a single buffalo has reached 36 in the cattle shed”, he said, adding, “We have started our household by selling buffaloes, buffaloes and ghee”. ”

Purna Bahadur said that the trend of buffalo rearing in mobile cowsheds has disappeared due to the possibility of livelihood, self-employment and income when the new generation is attracted to foreign employment.

Kirt Bahadur Gharti Magar, 80, of Bagar in Dhawalagiri Rural Municipality-4 has been rearing buffaloes in mobile sheds for 64 years. It has been 10 years since Kirt Bahadur started buffalo rearing in a mobile cowshed after he started his career at the age of eight due to health problems.

“In my childhood, there were no houses without cowsheds”, said Kirt Bahadur, adding, “Even a few cowsheds are now disappearing after the elderly people abandoned them.” Kirt Bahadur, who was found in a mobile shed at Dovan located at an altitude of three thousand meters above sea level a few days ago, shared his experiences of mobile farms.

“It’s like going abroad now,” he recalled, adding, “We used to go to the farms near the village in the winter and meet our families.” I didn’t have any contact with anyone during the rainy season for three to four months. ”

It was customary to take buffalo herds to grazing areas like Khamla, Khara, Bagar, Jeltung, Naura, Chaurwan, Kunawan, Machni, Dabdabe, Maireban, Buffalo Sikhark, Jirwang and other grazing areas. Purna Bahadur and Kirta Bahadur shared that the buffaloes go to the Buki at an altitude of five thousand meters for grazing on their own due to the availability of nutritious grass.

Around 20 buffaloes were reared annually and 10 to 15 buffaloes and 200 liters of ghee were sold. The genetic resources of lime and parkote buffaloes reared by farmers in the area are at risk of extinction along with mobile cattle sheds.

Chief of Livestock Service Section of Dhawalagiri Rural Municipality, Chandrakala Dahal, said there are 436 buffaloes in ward no 4. According to him, the number of cows and buffaloes is on the decline as per the data collected annually during the full immunization programme on livestock.

According to him, farmers who have traditionally been rearing livestock in mobile sheds have not registered their farms and have not insured livestock so they have not provided vaccines against various epidemic diseases but it is difficult to include them in the grant program.

Vice-chair of Dhawalagiri rural municipality Resham Pun Magar said they have tried to incorporate the mobile sheds by formulating programmes as per the needs of the farmers in order to modernize and systematize the mobile sheds. Stating that tarpaulin sheets, solar panels and other materials have been provided for the mobile cowsheds, he said that there would be possibility of employment generation and income generation if the mobile sheds could be operated in a systematic way.