Unpredictable Weather Deals Body Blow to Kashmir’s Economy

Srinagar, May 2: Fresh snowfall recently hit the upper regions of Kashmir, delaying the bi-annual migration of nomadic tribes and their cattle to higher altitudes in search of pastures for the summer.
Unlike previous years, when snowfall occurred mainly in between January and March, this year saw less precipitation during the coldest winter period known locally as Chillia Kalan, lasting from December 21 to January 31.

An official from the Meteorological Department of Jammu and Kashmir highlighted a deficit in winter precipitation this year but noted an excess of rainfall and snowfall across various parts of the valley in late April.
“Kashmir has experienced cloudy weather, rainfall, and a drop in temperatures over the past 10 days, leading to recent snowfall in higher elevations,” he said.
Weather experts have observed a pattern of erratic weather conditions and decreased winter precipitation in Kashmir over the years, impacting agriculture, horticulture, and hydro-electricity generation.
Experts say that Kashmir has been receiving less snowfall during winter and witnessing an early rise in temperature in March due to global warming, which could impact various sectors.
“Less snowfall and early rise in temperature leads to faster melting of glaciers. Besides, it is affecting the generation of hydro power and the horticulture sector. There will be less water in streams in summer when there is early melting of glaciers resulting in agriculture and horticulture sectors being badly affected,” said Adil Bhat, a research scholar.
Farmers complain that above normal temperatures in March this year led to early sprouting of apples and other fruits. “Then in the third week of April, there was a sudden dip in temperature. This untimely weather condition may hit the production of various crops this year,” Mohammad Abdullah, an apple grower from North Kashmir’s Sopore.
Horticulture is the mainstay of Kashmir’s economy with 700,000 families directly or indirectly associated with the sector. Horticulture contributes over eight percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Jammu and Kashmir. More than 338,000 hectares of land is under the fruit cultivation in the valley, of which 162,000 hectares is dedicated for apple cultivation.
An official of National Hydroelectric Power Corporation said they will come to know the impact of dry weather in winters on generation of hydroelectricity in the coming months.
J&K has hydropower generation potential of 20,000 megawatt (MW) of which over 3,000 MW have been harnessed so far.  “In one year, there is a deficit of rainfall and in another year, there is excess rainfall. These erratic weather conditions prevail due to climate change across the world,” Adil added.