When The River Took The Harvest: Pulwama’s Orchard Farmers Face A Season Of Loss

The wide field of apple trees lay submerged in water, while the paddy crop on the farmlands adjoining the elevated railway track had been flattened by the torrent of water that gushed out from the overflowing stream in Kakapora village of South Kashmir's Pulwama district. Rotten fruit lay in heaps on the roadside, and people hauled the mud-caked crop in the tractors, discarding some part while hoping a portion might find buyers.

The Pulwama district remains the worst-hit due to the floods that occurred in parts of Kashmir on September 3 and 4 following heavy rainfall. The deluge left the apple crop on a vast area of orchard land damaged, threatening the livelihood of farmers who depended only on the fruit harvest for survival.

Across Kashmir, the apple crop was damaged on over 108 hectares of land, with losses being particularly high in the districts of Pulwama, Anantnag, Kulgam, and Shopian in South Kashmir.

The orchard adjacent to the house of Pervaiz Ahmad Khan, 45, in the Kakapora area, remained submerged in water even after ten days of floods on September 3. Khan recalls that when water rose in the area, he and his other family members removed the household goods to the upper floor of their multi-storey house, fearing a repeat of the 2014 situation when he had to relocate to a safer place in another area of the Kakapora which  had been unaffected by the floods.

“We thought the situation this time was somewhat similar to the 2014 floods. We remained in a state of readiness to move to another place. But water didn’t enter our house,” says Pervaiz, who had not harvested the apple crop from the field, which got damaged in the floods, besides the paddy grown on over 8.5 Kanals of land. “After the floods, the cost of harvesting and cutting of the damaged paddy crop has also increased now as labourers  charge double the rates due to the difficulties working in the muddy fields. We are being charged Rs 2,500 instead of 1,000 to cut the damaged paddy crop,” says Pervaiz, whose field lies a few blocks away from his multi-storey house.

The villages of Kakapora and nearby Dogam remain the worst hit, with the ruin visible all across these areas as the orchards remained submerged several feet under water.  The vegetable fields in the Kakapora have been buried under mud, with the floods leaving behind only the dry twigs draped with scraps of cloth to drive away the birds. In Dogam,  where 99 percent of people comprising 200 families remain dependent on horticulture and paddy produce, rotten fruit remained piled up on the side of a muddy track, while a breach in an earthen embankment showed where the water from the Romshi nullah tore through to flood the place.

Across Kashmir, floods left horticulture crops on vast swathes of land damaged, not only submerging fields, but washing away trees in the areas that lie near Kashmir’s main river Jhelum or the several streams here. Villagers waded through knee deep water to take stock of their fallen apple produce as the flood water surged into some houses as well.

Director Horticulture Kashmir, Vikas Anand, says that the initial estimates have revealed the crop was damaged on over 108 hectares of land. “Under the disaster relief norms, farmers whose more than 33 percent of crop has been damaged would become eligible for assistance. Actual damage is, however, more than what they are eligible for. Our assessment is still going on as the losses were reported from several parts of Kashmir, including Anantnag, Kulgam, and Lassipora,” says Anand.

According to officials, the damage was more than what the preliminary estimates revealed, and the closure of the Jammu-Srinagar national highway, a major road transport link of Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of the country, for over 20 days in the last month, also resulted in heavy losses to the horticulture industry. Estimates reveal the losses amounted to over Rs 1000 crore for the horticulture sector that contributes about 6-7 per cent to the GSDP and employs 35 lakh people by supporting the livelihood of about 7 lakh families.

Growers in areas like Awantipora and Pulwama say that inundation of the fields resulted in early fruit fall as they rued the lack of cold storage facilities to ensure quick harvesting in inclement weather to prevent losses.

In Kakapora, local residents expressed dismay that the authorities have failed to drain out water from the inundated fields, which face a risk of permanent damage. Farmers feared that the damage to the fruit plants could be more severe as they have not been able to dig the submerged fields to prevent rotting of the trees.  

Near her windbreak-lined orchard, where flood waters destroyed the apple crop,  Shameema Banoo gestured towards the inundated fields, saying that she cautions her two girls not to step out of their house for fear of getting drowned. “No one came to drain the water from the fields. The stagnant water emanates a foul smell and could cause diseases,” says Banoo, distraught over losing both her vegetable and apple crop, her only means of survival.

“I have now no means to ensure the education of my two girls,” she says , recalling that after the death of her husband in an accident some five years back, the vegetable and the apple produce were the only way the family would sustain.

Horticulture Development Officer, Pulwama, Masood Ahmad Shah, says the long-duration water logging could be more damaging for the farmers than the losses that they suffered on account of fruit drop that was witnessed due to the floods.  

“Due to the excessive moist conditions in the wake of waterlogging of the orchards, farmers risk having to face the possibility of root rots. There is a possibility of more damage next year than this year in areas where the fields remained submerged for more than 10 days," says Shah.

He says that since the apple crop could not be harvested by farmers after it had adequately ripened, it led to “hormonal imbalance and caused the fruit drop” in the fields. “The apple drop was extensive in the areas of Kakapora and Ratnipora belt of Pulwama. We have advised the farmers that once the water has drained out of their fields, they must ensure proper aeration by digging the land to prevent losses,” he says.

Farmers affected by the floods say that they have no means to pay their debts due to the crop damage. Carrying a bundle of grass on his back to feed a cow in his home, Abdul Samad Mir, in his mid-fifties, walked past his orchard, where nearly seventy percent of the fruit had fallen off the trees due to the floods.  Having lived off his apple produce for years, Mir says that he was uncertain about how to carry on this year. “I have lost nearly 70 percent of the crop on my field of eight Kanals to the floods. I don’t know how to survive now,” he says.

The crop loss was similarly more than 60 percent for the family of Mohammad Maqbool Shiekh and his sibling, who suffered damage on over 12 Kanals of land in Kakapora village.  

“Our family had to foot heavy losses due to the floods and massive fruit drop. On each Kanal of orchard land, we have spent over Rs 15,000, which includes the cost of pesticides, labour, and fertilisers. We owe money to people and don’t know how to repay our debts,” says Shiekh.

Shabi Ahmad Bhat, 40,  who underwent surgery for medical issues in his back, says the floods have left him in ruin.  "The yield from the orchard land was the only thing that I lived on, but I have lost everything now,” he says.

Sajad Ahmad Khan, 48, another resident of Kakapora, says that the floods caused extensive damage to his apple crop on 8 Kanals of orchard land. Khan showed the damage to the fields. Near his house, farmers trudged through inundated fields to reach their orchards to remove the damaged crop. " Our fields were full of fruit; it was a good crop this year, but the flood has destroyed everything," says Khan.

Javed Ahmad Bhat, Deputy Director of Horticulture, says that the floods have resulted in abiotic stress in the plants, which has been responsible for heavy fruit drop.

“Abiotic stress in the plants has been responsible for the fruit drop. The climatic conditions changed after heavy rainfall. There was a dry season and then there was heavy rainfall, which resulted in physiological changes in the plants that manifested through fruit fall,” he says.

Local residents, however, rue that the authorities have not taken any measures after the 2014 floods to prevent fruit damage. Ashiq Hussain Reshi says that an earthen embankment, which had been raised in the Dogam village in 70s to prevent the water from Romshi nullah surge into fields, was insufficient to prevent the large-scale damages that they witnessed this time.

“ The authorities should have taken other measures to help us overcome the losses by carrying out the delisting of Romshi nullah to increase its carrying capacity and also build an alternate flood channel to curb the damages,”  says  Reshi. He says that at the personal level, he was among those who suffered the worst, facing the crop damage on over 5 Kanals of land. “ After the 70 percent damage to my apple crop, I have lost all means of earning. On each Kanal of land, we would harvest fruit worth nearly Rs 1.5 lakh, but I have only incurred losses this year. The damage to the crop in the entire Dogam village is  on over 500 Kanals of land.”

Niyaz Ahmad Reshi, 40, another Dogam resident, says that he has lost over 200 cartons of apples to the floods. “ The fruit drop was on over 3 Kanals of land, and the maximum crop yield has been damaged,” he says.

Firdous Ahmad Dar, who cropped a long beard,  waded through submerged fields before reaching his orchard, which had also seen an extensive fruit drop. “ All our efforts and labour have gone in vain.  Our apple crop has been damaged on over 5 Kanals of land due to the floods,” he says.