Drought leaves Kashmir farmers unfazed
From August 2017 to January 2018, Kashmir suffered an unprecedented drought, but some farmers were not affected by it. In Panzinara, a vegetable growing belt near the Himalayan state’s summer capital Srinagar, Javed Ahmad and his fellow farmers have dug up deep ponds that serve them whenever they have to irrigate their vegetable patches.
“Nothing stops us from watering our vegetable fields,” Ahmad, who grows vegetables on over an acre of land, told indiaclimatedialogue.net. “Not even the droughts.”
According to Sonum Lotus, the regional meteorological director, Kashmir witnessed “a record-breaking long dry spell” since August last year. “We have never witnessed such drought conditions,” Lotus said, adding that the extremely low precipitation recorded during the period caused a lot of problems for the people as functioning of dozens of water supply schemes was badly affected.
But many diligent farmers like Ahmad, who have made provisions for fighting with drought, hardly faced any problem. What Ahmad is proud of are the three ponds he has dug up on his land in which he harvests rainwater, and surface water as well.
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