The wonderful grassland eco-system of the District of Kutch, calles Banni, is home to a number of small hamlets of Muslim nomadic pastoralists and Meghwal Hindus. These communities, the Maldhari, developed and conserved one of the best blood lines for buffaloes, that is also considered as best milking breed. The qualities, which make thes animals unique and indespensible for this region are the ability to free graze during the night to avoid the high temperatures of the day and to handle little fodder in droughts. In order to conservate and to preserve the Banni buffaloes, the animal breeders of the region came together to form the Banni Breeders' Association (Banni Pashu Uchherak Maldhari Sangathan). Besides, their objectives were the regeneration of grassland, which is essential for the preservation of the buffaloes, the initiation of animal husbandry services and the improvement of an animal marketing system.
Several organizations offered their help to the Maldhari, e.g. Sahjeevan, GUIDE (Gujarat Institute of Desert Ecology and Ujjas Mahila Sangathan, and in 2008 the first Banni Pashu Mela was organized, not only to provide a marketing platform for the buyers and sellers but also to highlight the Banni buffaloe breed as an old traditional form of husbandry, that needs to be conserved.
Furthermore, service centres concerning health and efficiency of animals were created with the main objectives to provide health care benefits, e.g. regular veterinary check-ups or advices concerning the feeding habits. The Animal Husbandry Knowledge Centre offers needed know-how to the milk producers, CBOs and NGOs, which are engaged in animal husbandry requirements. The Banni Grassland Regeneration Programme, coordinated by GUIDE, includes clear identification and characterization of grazing lands by satellite data based and participatory approaches of grazing land mapping. Under this study a total 42.324 ha of land was mapped and categorized. As these and other initiatives have shown before, the feasibility and success of the mentioned projects were mainly the unbroken commitment and the teamwork of the organizations, scientists and local Maldharis.
