Kashmir border farmers hit by drought
Winter crops usually sown by October, November cannot be cultivated this season
The past three decades have not been kind to the residents of Keerni. This village in the Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir sits on the disputed Line of Control between India and Pakistan, and has seen people and cattle maimed or killed in the crossfire or by landmines.
Residents of Keerni’s 750 mud-built homes also have had to deal with intensifying border conflict following India’s strikes against purported terrorist camps in Pakistan-administered Kashmir in September.
Now the inhabitants of this village in the foothills of the Himalaya must grapple not just with heightened security threats but with a statewide drought that is hitting them especially hard.
Experts say Jammu and Kashmir is reeling from the longest dry spell in a decade. Winter crops which would usually be sowed by October or November cannot be cultivated this season in many areas of the state reliant on rainfall.
Sonam Lotus, director of the state’s Meteorology Department, told the local press in early December that Jammu and Kashmir had been dealing with a dry spell since 2007 and it was unlikely to break anytime soon.
Worst affected
Isolated border villages such as Keerni, which lacks road connections, piped water, a school or a hospital, are among those worst affected by the drought.
“Since our area has not received any rains until now, our farms remain unploughed. We’ll have to purchase food and fodder in the days to come,” said farmer Mohammad Fakir.
Fakir said two factors are making it increasingly difficult to stay in the village.
“Farming is our only source of livelihood and rains have become highly unpredictable. Second, the frequent ceasefire violations keep disrupting routine life, and no one feels safe here,” he said.
“In the wake of ongoing skirmishes, we couldn’t harvest crops in time. Due to the delay, wild animals damaged a lot of our standing crop,” he said.
Fakir said that he harvested 250kg of maize and 30kg of pulses from his half-hectare (1.25 acre) plot last season, only onethird of what he had anticipated.
In the past, water shortages were not an issue, he said.