People won’t be able to relish the ‘rajma’ of Munsyari or Harshil and apple from Ramgarh so abundantly this year as they used to do earlier following huge damage caused to these crops by incessant rains at a time when these high altitude grown agri-produces need utmost care and extremely favourable atmospheric conditions.
The devastating effect of the nature's catastrophe has already shown its results, hitting the crop of the hill tomato badly when total market needs of this produce is met by the hill tomato. The market has to totally depend on the hill tomato for three months i.e. July, August and September when supply of tomato from plains remains nil. But due to huge loss caused to the hill tomato crop by the disaster, prices of tomatoes have also escalated, keeping it away from the reach of common people.
One can easily see the adverse impact of the natural calamity even on the horticulture sector. The skyrocketing prices of the hill tomato i.e Rs 100 a kilo or so in the open market when it is needed the most, only gives that impression, said Dr DC Dimri, senior scientist of the College of Horticulture, the GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (G B Pant University of Agriculture and Technology), while talking to The Pioneer in an exclusive interview.
While supply of tomato from plains starts from October/November to May/June, the hill tomato meets the market needs during July, August and September. But the incessant rain has badly hit the said crop this year, added Dimri. The horticulture sector today plays a significant role in hill economy. About 60/70 per cent income of the farmers in the hilly regions of Uttarakhand today comes from the horticulture sector. Take for example, today the ‘rajma’ grown in high altitude like Munsyari, Harshil to name a few places are widely popular due to its high demand.
But the natural calamity has not only damaged the rajma crop but also many other off season crops, particularly vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage, Capsicum, to name a few, which come from the same hilly regions even during this period, added the senior scientist. Besides, the farmers of the hill regions have already faced losses due to damage to stone fruits like peach, ‘khumani’, plum by the calamity at the time of their harvesting.
Nainital’s Garampani, Majhera, Khairna and the entire Ramgarh belt are the major fruit as well as vegetable producers. Though damage to lives and properties has not been so alarming in this region, farmers are really in trouble following damage to their fruits and vegetable crops. “We are still advising the farmers not to allow excessive water in their crop fields and use necessary steps as advised by the experts to protect their crops,” suggested Dimri. Necessary precaution that the farmers are supposed to take, can come in handy to repair the damage to some extent if the weather conditions improve further.
The fact is that damage to important crops like mango during its harvesting time has already been done. Decreasing prices of mango in the open market only suggest that adverse weather conditions have only affected quality of fruits like mango, said Dr Sant lal, Dean, College of Horticulture, GBPUAT. “But rainy season variety of Guava can be protected from various fungicide and insecticide diseases if the farmers take necessary steps to protect their corps,” lal advised.
“Besides, excessive rain also leads to causing diseases like wilt. Therefore, we again advise the farmers to use scientific methods at least to protect their fruits and vegetable crops from diseases,” he added.