Continuing Dry Spell In The Hills And Plains A Worry For Farmers

This monsoon, Himachal Pradesh was hit hard by relentless rains that wreaked havoc. The winter, so far, has been extremely dry. Snowfall and rain have been elusive. The absence of rain and the presence of fog, smog, and frost are impacting the moisture level in the soil. The farmers in the state are worried about the dry spell as it is likely to have a detrimental effect on cash crops and unseasonal vegetables. The neighbouring states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttarakhand are also facing a similar problem. The Rabi crop is emerging as a likely victim of the dry spell. “This weather is worrisome. It has not rained in a long time and there are no chances of rainfall in the mountains. This is bad news for us,” says Pyare Lal Pathania, a farmer based in Shahpur in Kangra, Himachal.
 
The water resources in the state, like natural streams, kulhs, irrigation canals and ponds, are on the verge of going dry. If the weather conditions do not improve soon, the problem may become more severe. The Dhauladhar Himalayan range in the state—a storehouse of water—is all grey in the absence of any snow cover. This is bound to impact the irrigation and water supply schemes.
 
Shimla—a popular hill station—is snowless for the second consecutive winter. The peripheral hills of Kasauli, Chail, Fagu, Theog, Matiana and Narkanda and the apple belt of Kotgarh, Thanedar, Kotkhai, Rohru and Chopal and Rajgarh have not seen a grain of snow yet.  
 
As per the data available with the Shimla meteorological department, snowfall in December has become a rare thing. From 2010 to 2016, it has not snowed in December barring in 2011. The number of snowfall days in December in the past seven years (2017 to 2023) has reduced to just five as compared to 10 in seven years from 2010 to 2016. Horticulturists fear that if it does not rain in the hills in the next 8-10 days, the farmers will have to suffer losses due to the prevailing drought-like situation.
 
Bichitar Singh, a farmer based in Tarn Taran in Punjab, says his wheat crop is turning yellow due to the lack of rains and also the absence of sunlight as during the day, there is a blanket of smog. Though his fields are irrigated, there is no substitute to natural conditioning that comes mainly from the rains and the warmth of the sun.
 
“We are expecting snowfall and rain only after January 18. Until then, the weather will be largely dry,” says Surinder Pal, Director, Meteorological Centre, Shimla. There was a 24-hour window between January 8 and 9 when there was some scope of precipitation. “The western disturbance expected on January 8-9 was supposed to be slightly stronger than the last two but it didn’t help. The consistent above-normal maximum temperature has indeed reduced the probability of snowfall,” he says.
 
Rabi crops like wheat, mustard and barely and some citrus fruits in lower regions of the state are having an adverse impact of these weather changes. Apple growers, too, have started feeling the heat as the dry weather has forced them to put on hold new plantations and the application of manure and fertilisers to the soil.
 
An unusually dry winter in the Himalayan region with no relief in the offing is beginning to worry the administration we well. “The feedback we are receiving is certainly worrying. No rain is certainly a sign of climate change. Since we are largely dependent on rain because irrigation facilities are limited to some areas, the loss is going to be immense. The farmers have already suffered a lot due to incessant rains, landslides and floods,” says Himachal agriculture minister Chander Kumar. He fears this will have a huge cascading effect on the socio-economic conditions in the hills of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and also Jammu and Kashmir.
 
“If you don’t get (enough) snow in the winter months, the water bodies will not get replenished. It will impact agriculture, horticulture, power generation and human health,” feels Surjit Singh Randhawa, principal scientist at the Council for Science Technology and Environment, and an expert on glacier studies.
 
 ‘Weatherman Shubham’ – an environmental activist, who is active on social media platform X—recently posted a video of a worried farmer from the snowless Tashigang—the highest motorable village in Spiti ( 4,650 meters). The entire Spiti sub-division and Kaza are waiting for the snow. Similar pictures have gone viral from Kedarnath temple and surroundings sans any snow. It is said an unusually long dry spell has meant that places that would ideally have a minimum of four to six feet thick snow by now hardly have any snow. After the initial winter precipitation in November, and at some places in the first few days of December, there has been no precipitation at all, experts say.
 
Dr S P Bhardwaj, a horticulture scientist and the former head of the Research Station of Y S Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Mashobra (Shimla), says conditions on the weather front are not very pleasing. “Dry spell is continuing and there is no immediate sign of reversal. Rain and snow have been elusive. The situation is terrible on the farm and horticulture front in the region,” says Bhardwaj and attributes it to the maximum temperature being abnormally high this winter while the minimum temperature is low. He is also of the view that the state may see rainfall in March-April months when there is no need for rain. The minor disturbances here and there will not make any significant impact on dry conditions.
 
Until the first week of January, Punjab received 70 per cent less rain and in Haryana, there was a rain deficit of 54 per cent against the normal precipitation, as per the data of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). The rain deficit in Himachal Pradesh is almost 85 per cent in December 2023.