Rising Temperatures Are Ruining India’s Kashmir State’s Agricultural Eden – Global Issues
SRINAGAR, India, Sep 26 (IPS) – About 60 per cent of Kashmir’s agriculture relies on rainwater for irrigation, but this year the rains have been poor and the heat has been intense. With the hottest and driest seasons on record, how will farmers survive?
A 52-year-old farmer, from central Kashmir’s Budgam, religiously irrigated his three-acre plot to keep the soil moist. He waited for the rain, days passed before it came.
What it did do, however, was scorching heat—temperatures that had never been seen before.
Every morning, Sheikh walked in his paddy field, seeing how the seedlings had started to turn into dry, dead branches-slowly and surely. As the days passed, he noticed another disturbing trend. The earth was cracked, spewing dust as he passed.
“It was then that I was sure that the harvest would not be as expected. The whole year’s hard work would be wasted and I would be completely helpless in such a situation. This is very worrying,” Sheikh told IPS. .
This farmer was not alone in his concern. The people of this farming region in the Himalayan region are suffering from the worst heat wave ever seen in the living memory of Kashmir.
“Temperatures have even touched 40 °C here. In previous years, it would not even exceed 32 °C,” said Abdul Salaam Malik, a farmer from Shopian in south Kashmir.
The prolonged dry weather has stressed crops, said Prof Raihana Habib Kanth, Senior Scientist at the Faculty of Agriculture at the Sheri Kashmir University of Agriculture Science and Technology (SKUAST) in Kashmir. “The prolonged dry weather has caused the tips of the paddy plants to burn and the leaves of the vegetable plants to dry,” he told IPS, noting that 3-5 liters are needed to produce 1 kg of rice.
A recent study published in Science Direct, ‘A time series analysis of climate variability and trends in the Kashmir Himalaya,’ notes that the region is highly sensitive to “even small perturbations in climate” and “the changing pattern of rainfall can have a major impact on the environment which will have a major impact on food security and environmental sustainability in the region if the same trends continue.”
According to the meteorological office, the state capital, Srinagar, recorded a high of 36.2 °C on July 28 this year. This was the hottest July day since July 9, 1999, when the mercury settled at 37 °C.
A 2019 study revealed that Kashmir’s average annual temperature has increased by 0.8˚C over 37 years (1980-2016), with the recent summer breaking heat records.
According to government data, on August 17, 2020, the valley experienced the hottest August in 39 years, reaching 35.7˚C. The following year, on July 18, 2021, Srinagar saw its hottest July day in eight years, with temperatures reaching 35˚C.
The summer of 2022 was the hottest, with temperatures exceeding 35˚C in some places, and March of that year was the hottest in 131 years. In September 2023, Srinagar recorded its hottest September day in 53 years at 34.2˚C.
This warming trend continued until 2024, marked by an unusually dry and warm winter. January 2024, according to weather reports, was among the driest and warmest in the past 43 years. On May 23, Srinagar recorded its highest May temperature in at least a decade.
The Himalayan region has long been known to be warming faster than the global average. The International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) noted in its first comprehensive report on the region, published in 2019, that even if global warming is limited to 1.5˚C, the Hindu Kush Himalayas (HKH) could see a warming of at least 0.3 ˚C above this limit.
A study published in 2020 in Research Gate, ’21st Century-end Climate Scenario of Jammu and Kashmir Himalaya, India using Ensemble Climate Models,’ predicted that annual temperatures in Kashmir could increase by 4-7˚C by the end of the century, depending on. in future releases.
The study noted that while urbanization in Srinagar and other hilly areas is exacerbating heat, broader climate change remains the primary driver of rising temperatures.
Jasia Bashir, a research scientist at the University of Kashmir’s Center of Excellence for Glacial Studies, told Dialogue Earth: “Urban areas feel the intense heat due to dense construction and reduced vegetation, but the entire region, including rural areas, is generally affected. of warmth.”
Four-fifths of the people of Kashmir depend directly on agriculture. The heat has left farmers, including saffron farmers, devastated.
Mohammad Ashraf Mir from Kashmir’s Pampore region shared his plight, highlighting that low rainfall and rising temperatures are forcing saffron farmers, including himself, to stop farming forever.
“Irrigation facilities are nowhere, the land has become very dry, we have invested a lot of money in this plant and what we are getting is a problem that cannot be solved, the time is coming when we have to stop this farming and do something. the rest to make a living,” Mir told IPS.
According to government records, about 60 percent of Kashmir’s agriculture relies on rainwater for irrigation. However, in recent years, the Kashmir Valley has experienced one of the driest seasons on record. The Meteorological Department reports that, in the past three years, the region’s mountains have received 172 mm of snow, a significant drop from the average of 622 mm.
One in 100 irrigation schemes have been disrupted due to dry weather, according to government officials in the Irrigation and Flood Control (I&FC) department. As a result, the water level of the Jhelum River has decreased. According to them, the water volume of the Jhelum River as a whole has decreased by 30 percent.
So what about the future?
According to a detailed report prepared by the Indian Network for Climate Change Assessment (INCCA) released in 2023, the two biggest issues facing Kashmir in the coming decades will be water stress and loss of biodiversity caused by climate change. It says fisheries, forests, wildlife, species richness and water resources are all at risk from climate change. 20 percent of the region’s known biodiversity is supported by Jammu and Kashmir’s extensive wetlands, which have a negative impact.
Among the other farmers feeling the heat are the apple growers of Kashmir.
Many apple growers told IPS that the lack of rain and heat wave conditions are causing huge damage to apple production and will cause huge losses to the people involved in the apple trade.
Fayaz Ahmad Malik, President of the North Kashmir Apple Growers Association, calls the situation “shocking.”
He explains that continued heat not only hinders fruit growth but also increases the risk of insect and pest attacks.
“Dry weather can cause an increase in insects, which is a major threat to our apple orchards. The lack of sufficient moisture affects fruit development and makes fruit trees susceptible to various diseases,” said Malik.
Agricultural experts emphasize the importance of timely irrigation and efficient water management to combat the adverse effects of the dry season.
“In these circumstances, it is important for farmers to control the irrigation of fruit trees. Farmers should make it a priority to build borewells in their fields to ensure adequate water supply,” they advised.
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© Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
