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SHOPIAN, INDIA, Nov 2 (IPS) – Of the seven million inhabitants of Kashmir, as many as one million are directly dependent on apple cultivation. The region is critical to India’s apple and horticultural production, contributing over 70 percent of the country’s apple supply. This not only provides income for farmers, but also supports an extensive network of workers, traders and transporters within the fruit economy.
However, this year paints a bleak picture for the apple sector. Drastic swings in weather patterns, including unusual rainfall and unexpected increases in temperatures, have left apple growers in a state of great concern and distress.
In the southern region of Shopian, known for its high-quality apple exports, farmers are lamenting the sharp decline in production and seeing the trend as a serious threat to their livelihoods.
Disturbed orchardists
Abdul Karim Mir is one such farmer from the area. His apple orchard is spread over three hectares. This year his yield dropped dramatically due to the late arrival of summer and a sudden rise in temperatures as autumn approached. “There are dozens of apple growers like me who were excited about the harvest because it would bring us huge profits and broader appreciation. The Kashmiri apples are world famous. Few pesticides and chemical sprays are used for their growth. They are extremely tasty and nutritious. But now the story seems different,” says Mir.
He says his orchard produced more than 500 boxes of apples last year. This year, however, Mir says, the number will not exceed 300.
“This is because the flowering did not take place on time at the beginning of spring. The temperatures did not rise above 10 degrees, while they should have been above 20 degrees. And at the end of summer, August and September, temperatures suddenly rose. This had direct consequences for cultivation. Productivity plummeted, and so did our hopes for a profitable harvest,” Mir said.
Ghulam Rasool Bhat, another apple farmer from Ganderbal in central Kashmir, says the situation for apple growers is turning bleak due to climate change in Kashmir.
“I estimate about 50 percent of the loss this year. Even if we pick the fruit from the trees, the loss is so great. Now imagine, if we load them into trucks for export, how many more products will be lost during the transition period,” said Bhat.
He adds that although the government has launched some programs for apple farmers, including subsidized fertilizers and facilitating storage, climate change is shattering production.
Bhat says the cold wave grips the Kashmir valley during the months of May and June; otherwise, the summer months, when fruits normally grow in the region, are fine. “Then in the first week of September, Kashmir recorded the hottest day of the summer. Temperatures were recorded at 34.2°C. Such scorching heat was last recorded 53 years ago. This is unprecedented. It irreparably damaged the apple crop,” he added.
Horticulture is considered the backbone of Kashmir’s economy and an estimated 144,825 hectares of land in the region is devoted to apple cultivation. The sector produces 1.7 million tonnes of apples annually, and their exports are estimated at INR 6,000 crore (USD 826.86 million).
Heat wave causes chaos
Besides India, the brutal grip of global heat waves has caused a series of environmental crises across the world. Canada and Hawaii have experienced more intense wildfires, while South America, Japan, Europe and the United States have been exposed to extreme heat waves.
According to the American space agency NASA, this year our planet witnessed the hottest period from June to August on record. It marked the hottest summer on record in the Northern Hemisphere, contrasting with the warmest winter in the Southern Hemisphere.
NASA data shows that the months of June, July and August were as much as 0.23 degrees Celsius warmer than any previous summer in their data, and as much as 1.2 degrees Celsius warmer than the average summer temperatures observed between 1951 and 1980.
These alarming trends are attributed to greenhouse gas emissions, which are a major driving force behind climate change and the global warming phenomenon responsible for the extreme conditions witnessed during this sweltering summer.
In the year 2016, the northern Indian state of Rajasthan experienced an unprecedented heat wave, with temperatures reaching a whopping 51 degrees Celsius in the scorching month of May, shattering all previous records. Tragically, this extreme heat wave claimed the lives of an estimated 1,000 people in the state due to dehydration and hyperthermia. The same year, the southern states of India also endured the worst of the brutal heatwave, resulting in the tragic loss of 800 lives.
At the UN Climate Change Conference (COP24) in December 2015, a World Health Organization (WHO) report highlighted the urgent need for India to tackle climate change. The report highlighted that both India and China could achieve substantial health benefits from tackling climate change, with the potential benefit estimated at US$3.28 to US$8.4 trillion for India alone.
Furthermore, the report revealed that the value of health improvements from climate action would be twice the cost of global mitigation policies. This benefit-cost ratio is even more favorable for countries like China and India.
Government data shows that the ongoing drought and rising temperatures have negatively affected more than 330 million people in India. Research conducted by the Joint Global Change Research Institute and the Battelle Memorial Institute, Pacific Northwest Division, underscores that climate change will disproportionately impact the country’s marginalized communities. These communities, which often lack financial resources and adequate education, depend on agriculture for their livelihood and livelihood. Under the looming threat of climate change, their capabilities are severely limited, leading to increased vulnerability.
The research also warns that in a country prone to natural disasters, the well-being of those affected, especially those with limited resources to recover, will become a major factor under climate change. This could potentially lead to political instability, put pressure on government budgets and promote social unrest.
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© Inter Press Service (2023) — All rights reservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service