By Amarjyoti Borah
Climate change is not all bad news for India's farmers. In the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, a warming climate has helped high-altitude farmers begin growing vegetables that a decade ago were possible to cultivate only at lower altitudes.
That has lowered the cost of vegetables in the region's Leh district, improved nutrition and boosted incomes, say farmers in the high-altitude desert-like region.
"It has been a gradual process but it has become a reality," said Chhewang Norphel of the Leh Nutrition Project, a non-profit organization. "Now we see a lot farmers cultivating vegetables which were earlier not cultivated here. Due to that these vegetables are easily available here now."
Negotiators will meet at a much-touted climate change meeting in Copenhagen next week to try to agree on a new global plan to cut the emission of climate-changing gases and adapt to changes that are already inevitable.
As part of that effort, they plan to spend billions of dollars to help poorer nations most affected by climate change adapt. But while many regions of the world will suffer from the negative effects of a shifting climate, particularly increasingly severe weather and rising sea levels, some parts of the world stand to benefit.
In Leh, tropical and sub-tropical vegetables and fruits including cucumber, pumpkin, watermelon, bottle gourd, tomato and capsicum, used to be imported at significant cost. Now the low-altitude crops are being cultivated locally.
Most are eaten at home, by the families that grow them. But some production is coming into local markets, lowering the costs of buying vegetables even for families who do not grow them.
"Now there are two varieties of vegetables in the market: locally produced vegetables and vegetables brought from areas of lower altitude," said Nisa Khatoon, a Leh-based researcher with the World Wildlife Fund.
LOCAL VEGETABLES CHEAPER
Because local vegetables do not need to be transported, they are available at a significantly cheaper rate.
At the vegetable market in Leh's main town, a kilo of locally produced tomatoes costs about 25 to 30 rupees (55 to 65 U.S. cents), while a kilo of tomatoes from outside the region goes for 40 rupees (85 cents). Brinjal, capsicum and watermelon show similar price differences.
Being able to grow her own vegetables has saved 52-year-old Halima Bano, a farmer in Leh, about 3,000 rupees ($65) in food costs annually.
"Now I am able to cultivate tomato, capsicum and other vegetables that I use for our domestic consumption. Earlier I had to purchase these from the market," she said.
She also has been able to sell vegetables she can't use at home at the market, earning another 7,000 to 8,000 rupees ($150 to $175) a year. Next year she aims to earn more than 10,000 rupees ($215) from vegetable sales.
Stanzin Dorjai, a 33-year-old farmer in Gya village, has not been so lucky. At an elevation of 13,000 feet, his village is higher up and has seen much less change in vegetable production, he said.
But higher temperatures have boosted his traditional crop of potatoes, carrots and radishes somewhat in the last five years, he said.
Environmentalists attribute the boosts in production to climate change. Scientists agree, but say there are other factors at play as well.
"Climate change is definitely one factor but another factor is the introduction of newer varieties of vegetables," said Om Prakash Chaurasia , a senior scientist at the Defense Institute of High Altitude Research, which has spent years researching which vegetable crops grow best in Leh's climate conditions.
Over the last 30 years, winter temperatures in Leh have risen by 1 degree Celsius, and summer temperatures by a 0.5 degrees Celsius, scientists from the defense institute say.
How significantly that has affected production, and may affect crops in the future, needs further research, experts say.
BENEFITS MAY NOT LAST
"There has not been any concrete study on this, and a study is important to come to a conclusion," said Tundup Angmo of GERES India, a rural development NGO. "There are other noticeable changes as well, like a shift in the apple cultivation belt from 9000 feet to almost 12,000 feet. This is a clear indicator of climate change affecting the region," he said.
The farmers now able to grow more vegetables say climate change has helped them in a big way. But environmental activists warn the benefits may not last long.
As glaciers recede in warmer weather, they warn, the region faces a long-term loss of its key water source.
"It is a short period of happiness and income source," Khatoon said. Unfortunately, "many of these farmers are not aware about the negative affects of climate change."
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