Farmer Arjun Kashinath Kumbad (75) from Borda village, Kalamb taluka in Osmanabad district of Maharashtra at a cattle fodder camp at Andora village. He has around 4 acres in his village and had planted Sorghum (jowar) in the last season. However, the low and untimely rainfall of last year led to the complete loss of the crop. The well in his farm had also run dry and there was nothing he could do to save the crop. Lack of sufficient fodder and water to his cattle prompted him to take his 5 cows to the cattle camp.
Masakhane informal settlement, just outside eMalahleni (Witbank), with Duvha coal power station in the background. Despite living in the shadows of a coal power station, many community members do not have access to electricity.
Yulin, located in Shenfu coalfield, together with Ordos and Shuozhou (Shanxi), is called the “Golden Triangle of Coal” in China. Shenmu County is an important part of the Shaanbei Energy and Chemical Base. Since 2004, the economy has been developing dramatically thanks to its rich coal resources and the county was for the first time listed among the “Top 100 Prosperous Counties in China” in 2008. Yulin has been tagged as “the Oriental Kuwait”.
The formal sole water source is able to gather only these much water after every several days.
A local resident, Guan Wangying, collects water from a spring deep into the valley near her village of Houjialiang. Guan’s family had always depended on corn for their livelihood, but drops in groundwater due to coal mining has resulted in serious water shortages which in turns lead to less corn production.
