Warm winter may spell doom for Rabi harvest, say Himachal orchardists, farmers

A warm winter with little rain has dealt a second blow to farmers and orchardists of Himachal Pradesh. The farmers earlier faced heavy rains and natural disasters during the Kharif cropping season, which led to huge losses. Now a drier than normal post-monsoon season — October, November, and December — is expected to affect the Rabi harvest as well. 

More than 80 per cent of Himachal Pradesh’s agricultural land is rainfed. In November 2023, Himachal experienced a rainfall deficit of 38 per cent, while December 2023 saw a severe rainfall deficit of 85 per cent. Farmers have already begun to worry about low yields.

An analysis of data from the last 20 years by the India Meteorological Department revealed that only four years between 2004 and 2023 saw normal or above-normal rainfall in October. It is worth noting that in Himachal Pradesh, the majority of Rabi crops are sown in October and November, so rains during these months are extremely important. 

November data for the 20 years also showed normal or above-normal rain just four times — the remaining 16 years showed a rainfall deficit. Normal rainfall was also seen in just four years in December in the 20 year period. Experts have attributed the continuous decrease in rainfall in the post-monsoon season for the last few years to climate change.

Muni Lal, a farmer from Shimla district, told Down to Earth (DTE) that the farmers have been hit twice consecutively. “Excessive rains during the monsoon season resulted in significant losses for farmers earlier. They are now concerned about the dry spell. There has been uncertainty regarding rainfall for the past two decades,” he said.

Most farmers from Lal’s village, Mandya, did not sow Rabi crops like wheat due to the lack of rain this time, the farmer said. “Those who sowed Rabi crops are witnessing little production. Wheat would be sown on 20 fields when there was plenty of rain, but this time it was sown on just four,” he said. 

Himachal’s horticulture farmers are also concerned about a lack of rain following the monsoon season. Rohit Sharma, an apple orchardist from Shimla, told DTE that rain and snowfall during and after the monsoon season are critical for apple production.

Around this time of the year, horticulture farmers usually harvest and prune the apple trees, add fertiliser and till the soil. However, the soil is very dry this time and all moisture would be lost if it was turned, said Sharma. “The resultant dryness will harm the fruit further,” he said.

SP Bhardwaj, horticulturist and former joint director at Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry in Nauni, Solan, told DTE that the fruit trees are stressed due to the prolonged dry spell. “Apple production will suffer greatly as a result of the prolonged drought and lack of snow. The dry spell has also caused problems for horticultural farmers who were planning to plant new orchards,” he said.

According to government figures, farmers in Himachal Pradesh have lost more than Rs 511 crore due to the bad weather. Excessive rainfall reduced apple orchard yields by half, costing the state’s gardeners more than Rs 2,000 crore. As a result, now is the time to transition to eco-friendly farming methods while keeping environmental changes in mind and efforts to save the environment should be expedited.