Farmers settled in the cold desert of the landlocked Lahaul Valley in Himachal Pradesh, which has been normally flushing with vegetables, mainly the high-value exotic broccoli and lettuce, have been facing losses with their cash crop decaying in fields.
The reason -- there was abnormal delay in restoring road connectivity by the government after multiple landslides left a trail of destruction with shutting of the Keylong-Manali-Kullu-Mandi highway several times in August and September.
Even public transport and tourist vehicles remained stuck for days. BJP leader and former Chief Minister Jairam Thakur, who began his two-day tour on Wednesday of the arid Lahaul Valley that bears a single crop in a year through glacial-fed streams, told IANS in an interview over phone that the cauliflower, peas, potatoes, broccoli and lettuce have been rotting in fields.
“Since the government failed to restore the road connectivity on time owing to its gross negligence, a majority of farmers preferred not to harvest the crops. Rotting of cauliflower, broccoli and peas is a common sight and at many places villagers told us that no government official came to villages to assess the losses,” the Leader of Opposition told IANS.
He said that since the farmers depend on a single crop in a year, their economy was badly impacted. “The state government should come forward and compensate the farmers for their negligence to reopen roads,” he said.
Former Chief Minister Thakur said this time there was a bumper cauliflower crop in Lahaul. “Now the crop is rotting in the fields, posing a threat of an epidemic. Farmers have suffered losses worth millions of rupees. “How will they be compensated? The government's approach clearly shows that it has no idea of the extent of the damage.
The government must take effective steps in this direction.” Every year, a huge chunk of vegetables, especially peas and cauliflower, from the arid Lahaul Valley finds its way to markets in northern India where the rates have been lucrative as the monsoon impacts vegetable production in other regions.
Lindur village is on the verge of caving in owing to heavy erosion, prompting calls for the relocation of its residents. Thakur said cracks have surfaced in houses in Lindur owing to heavy rains and the entire village is unsafe for habitation.
The Lahaul Valley, which has a cultivation season for less than five months from May, is cold and arid with scarce rainfall and high snowfall. The showers occasionally occur May to September. Lal Singh Negi, a pea grower on the outskirts of Keylong, the district headquarters of Lahaul-Spiti, told IANS the valley usually experience scanty rainfall.
“This time like unusual monsoon of 2023, there has been so much rain that many people’s houses made of mud have developed cracks. With the frequent rains, the temperature has also come down, impacting the overall crop yield too.”
The area under vegetable cultivation, emerging as one of the mainstays, is around 2,200 hectares. However, locals have been pinning hopes on the harvesting of high-prized apples. Grower Jiwan Thakur said the harvesting of apple crop in Lahaul is yet to start.
“We are hoping that our apples will hit markets without any hindrances. They will help coping with the vegetable loss.” According to horticulture experts, the harvesting of high quality, delicious and luscious apples from the Chango, Ribba and Namgiya valleys of Kinnaur and Hurling in Lahaul and Spiti, which command a virtual monopoly in India, starts in October-end.
The Lahaul Valley, once the hub for producing bitter taste hops is now famed for growing prized seed potatoes whose history goes back to 1854 when missionary A.W. Hide from Germany established a farm near Keylong.
The valley dotted with tiny hamlets produces the country’s pest-resistant seed varieties Kufri Chandramukhi and Kufri Jyoti and ‘Table Santana’ and ‘Shafordi’ varieties that are used for making chips.