The summer of 2022 was unkind for the 30-odd farmers of Tandi village in Himachal Pradesh’s cold desert. Over 50% of their crops in the village in Lahaul and Spiti district were damaged due to scarcity of water for irrigation.
Romit Kumar, who grows peas and cauliflower on his 20-bigha farm (1.61 hectares) in the village, told Mongabay-India that his earnings from the peas crop last year were approximately Rs 2,00,000. This summer, peas fetched him only Rs 70,000.
Blaming it on the decline in snowfall precipitation and early snow melting, Kumar said that snow melt water from mountains and glaciers is the only major source of irrigation for farmers in Lahaul and Spiti, better known as the “cold desert” of Himachal Pradesh due to the harsh climatic conditions.
Lahaul and Spiti receive scant rain because they lie in the rain shadow region. There is very little to no rainfall during the crop sowing reason between April and May.
Monsoon season in the cold desert largely remains dry with reduced rainfall in comparison to other cities in Himachal Pradesh, said Kumar, conforming to what Himachal Pradesh’s meteorological data indicates.
Between June 1 and August 28 this year, the district’s actual rainfall was 107 millimetres against state’s average rainfall of 569 mm.
Kumar added…
