Livestock Ownership Patterns in a Nepali Village

Abstract

Recent reports (Wyatt-Smith, 1981; Fox, 1983) indicate that the livestock population of Nepal exceeds available feed resources and that overgrazing causes severe land degradation. Knowledge of livestock ownership patterns and factors that influence livestock ownership is thus important to land management programmes. Currently, these patterns are poorly understood and theories to explain livestock ownership are controversial. Attention has been focused on the relative importance of the Hindu religion and economic incentives to cattle and buffalo ownership patterns among Indian farmers (Harris, 1966, 1974, 1978; Heston, 1971; Freed and Freed, 1972, 1981; Harris et al., 1982). While Freed and Freed and Heston propose that religious considerations influence livestock ownership patterns, Harris asserts that technological and environmental concerns are the primary factors. Freed and Freed (1981:483) claim that . . there are too many cattle, especially zebu cows, in terms of their techno-environmental functions, that uneconomic animals compete with humans for food, that this situation is due at least in part to the religious veneration of the cow, and that a smaller cattle population with different demographic characteristics could adequately perform all of the functions of the present population. Harris et al. (1982:365), on the other hand, maintain that the effects of religion not significantly influence the major regional variations in bovine age, sex, and species ratios. For land managers attempting to control overgrazing, it is important to know whether Hindu religious beliefs need to be considered when trying to convince farmers to reduce the number of their livestock. Harris et al. (1982: 365) clearly believe they do not: Proposals to change the existing deployment of bovine resources . . . cannot set forth from the proposition that the Hindu proscriptions take precedence over economic costs and benefits in the Indian farmer's decision-making process. At the village level Hindu cultural practices are often manifested by caste. The four major divisions of the caste system are Brahmins (priests), Kshatriyas (rulers and warriors), Vaishyas (agriculturalists and traders), and Sudras (service or untouchable groups). In Nepal, both Brahmins and Kshatriyas (Chhetris) are considered to be twice born and wear the sacred thread (janai). Vaishyas include the Newars and other indigenous tribal hill groups. Sudras include the blacksmiths (kami), leatherworkers (sarkai), and tailors (damai). It is dangerous to generalize about caste in Nepal but Brahmins, being of the highest caste and class and therefore having the most to lose, generally follow the proscriptions of the Hindu religion the most closely. If Freed and Freed's assertion that religious veneration of the cow affects livestock ownership patterns is true,