Snow brings relief to apple farmers

Shopian, Feb 27: “This wet spell brought the much-needed relief to us,” said Shabir Ahmad, a 55-year-old apple cultivator from Shopian as he gazed at the woolly flakes of snow.

Following a few hours of intense rainfall, thick snowflakes began accumulating in both the plains and upper reaches of the district, alleviating the concerns of farmers in the area.

The plains of the district received around 2 inches of snow, while the upper reaches including Sedow, Hirpora, and Devpora recorded 4 to 6 inches of snow.

Jahangir Ahmad of Hirpora, the last village along the heritage Mughal Road from the Shopian side, said that it started snowing in the area at around 2 pm.

The snowfall in almost the entire district continued until Thursday late evening.

A drawn-out dry spell had caused much distress among the thousands of apple cultivators in the apple-rich districts of south Kashmir, raising concerns about crop damage and financial losses.

“An unusual rise in temperature could have caused premature flowering,” said Tariq Ahmad Mir, a well-heeled apple cultivator from Batapora Shopian.

The protracted dry spell had depleted the moisture from the soil and the farmers were unable to apply the fertilisers to their farms.

“Amidst dry weather conditions, the soil was unable to absorb the nutrients,” Mir said.

He said that if the dry weather continued, farmers would have to irrigate their fields manually.

Many farmers said that the protracted dry weather conditions had delayed the plantation process.

“The farmers were unable to plant new plants due to significantly less moisture in the soil,” the farmers said.

The rains and snowfall have also brought relief to the paddy farmers in neighbouring Pulwama and Kulgam districts.

"The snow was more required for the water-intensive crops like paddy, requiring a significant amount of water,” said Abdul Rashid, a farmer from Pulwama.