Unusual rain in Spiti spells disaster for its green peas

And the results have been devastating. Lahaul-Spiti,known for heavy snowfall in winters and bright sunny days in monsoon,have suffered huge agricultural losses.

Vast tracts of cultivable lands have been washed away and green peas — a major cash crop of this belt — have started rotting in the fields after the landslides caused by heavy rain blocked the roads.

“For more than 20 days,the roads leading to Kinnaur and even Manali via Kunzam Pass remained totally blocked. There were no buyers or vehicles to carry the peas to the markets. The prices crashed from Rs 50 per kg to Rs 25,” said a senior agriculture officer at Kaza,headquarters of Spiti.

What is especially worrying for farmers in the Spiti belt is the frequency of the rain.

At least half-a-dozen prime cash crop-growing areas,including the famous Geu village,have been severely affected by the rain and landslides. Some of the agriculture fields the farmers prepared after days of hard work have been washed away.

Deputy Commissioner of Lahaul-Spiti Ritesh Chauhan said: “Initially,the rains helped the agriculture crops,including peas and potatoes,by providing sufficient moisture to the dry soil. The green peas crop turned out to be bumper. But soon the farmers realised the rain was not a boon. Road blocks and heavy downpour created marketing problems.”

Met office director Manmohan Singh said the region was experiencing massive rainfall because the temperature was “not low enough” to convert the rain into snow.

The district administration is compiling data from villages where large tracts of agricultural land have been washed away due to flash floods. The entire Geu village — located close to the Indo-Tibet border — was washed away and the government had a hard time relocating the villagers.

“There is not a single village from where we have not received reports of damage due to heavy downpour. Many villages are still inaccessible,though there have been no reports of any loss of life. The region had never,in my memory,recorded so much rainfall,” said local BJP MLA and former minister Ram Lal Markandey. He said it could be because of climatic changes and was a warning for locals.

Sources at the Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University said studies had already been conducted on the adverse affect of excessive agriculture activities in Spiti valley. More than 22,000 metric tonnes of green peas are marketed from Spiti alone. Cultivation of apples and other fruits is also changing the land use pattern.

Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal,who flew to Spiti recently,said experts needed to study the climatic changes and suggest how best agricultural practices could help offset them. There have also been reports of some new diseases and pests damaging the cash crops. The development,warn agriculturist scientists,is certainly a result of excessive rain.