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| Elusive rains, no means of irrigation leaves Jammu farmers a distressed lot | | Wheat crops reduced to dry grass, govt apathetic | |
EARLY TIMES REPORT
Samba, Apr 20: Scorching heat and continuous dry spell has left everyone fretting and fuming in Jammu region, longing for some respite by a moderate shower which still remains elusive. But gruelling heat has badly hit farmers community of the state whose vast stretches of wheat crop have been reduced to dry grass this year because of scanty rainfall.
.Rajinder's wheat, sown in about 80 acres in the surroundings of Samba town, 40 km southwest of Jammu, hardly has any grain. He finds himself in utter state of helplessness as whatever little money he had, he has invested into the fields with the hope good yield would fetch some profits. But that was not in his fate. "There is absolutely nothing I can hope now from these fields," said Rajinder, 52, who has a family of seven, including his aged parents, to look after.
This is story and fate of all the farmers in almost all the villages of Jammu regionwhere the crops have failed for a second time in less than one year. The region lost its rabi (winter) crop, mostly rice. And now, the kharif or summer crop, mostly wheat, too, is lost, giving farming community sleepless nights.
The farmers of Samba depend mostly on rainfall for irrigation. To some extent, the waters of a local river, Basantar, help farmers in some places, but the water level has receded and the river bed widened "Every year more and more sandy parts of the river are visible…… the water seems to have vanished. It is like a mini-stream now," said Surinder Sharma, 46, another farmer in distress.
In the Jammu region, normally the rains would arrive on time and farmers had no problems. And whenever there was scantly rainfall, they would dig tube wells and find water to irrigate their fields.Untill about five-seven years ago, ground water was available at 20 feet depth, now it is not found even below 150 feet. The cost of installing tube wells has thus escalated and become difficult to afford for poor farmers. "The ground water level has descended too low because there has been no recharge of the water with rains, and the water level in the rivers too has gone down," said Public Health and Engineering and Irrigation Minister Taj Mohi-ud-Din. Water scarcity has made it a question of survival for farmers. "With the failure of two consecutive crops, we are facing multiple problems," said Vijay Kumar Saini, a farmer in Vijaypur, 30 km southwest of Jammu. "There is no money left with us; we don't have money for seeds, nor do we get any compensation from the government. How do we live, feed our families? This has become a challenge for us," he said despairingly.
The failure of rains last summer and in winter has left the state agriculture department worried over the havoc it is causing across the state.
In Jammu and Kashmir 968,000 hectares of land is under cultivation. Of this, 384,000 hectares is in the Jammu region. The major crops are rice and maize during the kharif and wheat and oil seeds during the rabi season.Almost 65 percent of the area is rain fed. According to estimates prepared by the agriculture department, farmers in the Jammu region "lost about 80 percent of the kharif crop". "The rabi crop loss is about 60 to 70 percent, but an exact assessment is yet to be made. It may be more," Agriculture Minister Ghulam Hassan Mir said"The failure of rains has caused huge problems for farmers," Mir said admitting that the depletion in water resources has compounded the problem for farmers. The farmers fear it will get worse as the weather is getting warmer. The mercury has already started crossing 40 degrees Celsius. With no water in sight and no money in their hands, they feel they will not be able to sow for the next season.
It is a desperate and distressing situation. "We are becoming victims of the cruelty of nature and the indifference of the government," Rajinder observed, summing up the mood in the farming community.
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