Amid scanty rains, paddy cultivation hit in Kangra region

Rajiv Mahajan and

Lalit Mohan

Nurpur/dharamsala, July 17

Scanty and delayed monsoon has hit paddy cultivation in the Mand area of the Indora and Fatehpur regions in the lower Kangra hills on the inter-state borders of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. Hundreds of farmers, who grow paddy in this area, are a harried lot as their fields have started drying for want of adequate rainfall.

However, resourceful farmers have sown paddy in nurseries and other crops, using the underground water-lifting facility, but hundreds of acres of land is dependent either on rains or local Shah canal. Owing to the non-availability of canal water, the farmers are waiting for sufficient rainfall. In the absence of irrigation facility and scanty rainfall, most of the agricultural land in the Mand area is becoming barren.

It may be recalled that Asia’s largest hill irrigation project, Shah canal, has become defunct, raising questions over the government’s performance and its apathy towards the farming community. During last year’s monsoon, excess water from the Pong Dam reservoir was released by the BBMB in the Beas, causing severe flashfloods in the Mand area, damaging the Shah canal project.

Agricultural land in most of the villages falling in the Mand area of the Fatehpur and Indora subdivisions — including in Barota, Thakurdwara, Malkana, Gagwal, Basantpur, Tyora, Ratangarh, Ulhedia, Milewan, Dhamota, Miani, Manjwah, Mand, Sanor and Paral — has either dried or suffers from severe water scarcity. Most paddy fields there have also started drying.

In the past, the farmers used to transplant the paddy crop in the first week of July, but this year, farmers are still waiting for adequate rain for growing paddy in nurseries. The lower Kangra region is rain-fed and farmers are dependent on the rains for paddy cultivation. The paddy-growing fields are in the low-lying moist areas, where only this crop can be grown during the rainy season.

Suresh Singh Pathania of the Kangra Bharatiya Kisan Union says insufficient rain has disappointed thousands of farmers in the region, as paddy is considered their main cash crop.

Ankur Chaudhary, a farmer from Kangra district, said 80 per cent paddy farms in the region were rain-fed. “There is hardly any irrigation facility available in the region, so the farmers sow the paddy crops in the monsoon as the area receives very heavy rainfall. However, this year the rainfall has been very less so far,” he added.

“Paddy crop requires stagnant water in the fields for growth. However, our fields are drying due to less rains and crop is getting damaged. In case there is no rainfall in the next one week, we would have to plough our fields again,” he said.

Interestingly, the Kangra valley was considered among the wettest regions in the country as it used to receive very heavy rainfall, especially from June 15 to September 15. However, this year the rain have been scanty, leaving the farmers worried. Paddy crop is grown in the district in July and is harvested in November.

Besides the paddy, other crops in the region have also been hit. The problem is more acute in the Changar region of the district.

Agriculture experts have asked the farmers to exercise caution and irrigate their fields with whatever means are available. They were, however, of the view that in case it does not rain next week, farmers may suffer losses.

Farmers a harried lot

• The Kangra valley was considered among the wettest regions in the country as it used to receive very heavy rainfall, especially from June 15 to September 15. However, this year the rain have been scanty, leaving the farmers worried
• Agriculture experts have asked the farmers to exercise caution and irrigate their fields with whatever means are available. They were, however, of the view that in case it does not rain next week, farmers may suffer losses