The average air temperature in the last forty years has risen twice as fast in the Himalayan Region than the average warming in the mid latitudinal northern hemisphere. This means the rate of warming is more pronounced in the high altitude regions than the lower ones. It also means the Himalayas are more sensitive towards climate warming and significantly impacted by climate change.Besides the first order impacts of climate change like glacial retreat, glacial lake outburst floods, rise in the sea levels, drying up of rivers and streams etc; climate warming has significantly impacted the health of both flora and fauna in recent times. Such impacts have perhaps been more severe and far reaching in and around the hills and mountain areas. Agriculture is believed to be one of the direct targets of climate warming. Various scientific studies indicate both positive and negative impacts on the health and productivity of agricultural crops depending on the type of crops, season, geographical region and climatic conditions therein.
Sikkim Himalaya: Geography and EnvironmentA small and beautiful mountain region, Sikkim situated in the Eastern Indian Himalayas spreads below the world´s third highest mountain Kangchendzonga (8598m). The region is separated by the Singalila range from Nepal in the west, Chola range from Tibet in the northeast and Bhutan in the southeast. Rangit and Rangpo rivers form the borders with the Darjeeling district of West Bengal in the south. Sikkim Himalaya measures a total geographical area of 7,096 sq km with 349.3 km of international border- China border: 220 km, Bhutan border: 32.8 km, Nepal border: 96.5 km. It has a national border of 30.3 km with West Bengal. This also means 92 percent of Sikkim´s border is with neighbouring countries. About 100 kms from the border town Rangpo in South Sikkim lies the Bangladesh.
The region being a part of inner ranges of the Himalayas has no open valley and plains but varied geographical elevations ranging from 300 to 8598 meter above mean sea level consisting of lower hill, middle and higher hills, alpine zones and snow bound land, the highest elevation 8598 meter being the top of the Mt. Kangchendzonga itself. On the north-western side of the Sikkim Himalaya lies the massive 31 Km long Zemu glacier. Sikkim´s botanical and zoological affluence is truly impressive.
Climate Change in the Sikkim Himalaya
Sikkim Himalaya as an integral part of the Himalayan region has witnessed notable variation in its temperature and rainfall pattern over the years. According to Meteorological sources, maximum temperature in Gangtok has been rising by 0.2o C per decade and minimum temperature has been falling by 0.3o C per decade. The annual rainfall has been increasing by 49.6mm per decade. The physical effects of such meteorological deviations include glacier retreat, GLOFs, record breaking forest fire incidents, failure of agricultural crops and forced changes in the timing of crops etc. Further, animals, birds and insects are changing their habits and habitats while the tree line is gradually shifting upward.
Sikkimese Agriculture
Sikkim is primarily a rural and agricultural economy where over 60 per cent of its population is directly engaged in agriculture. Principal food crops cultured in the region include maize, paddy, barley, millet, wheat, buck wheat, beans etc. Important cash crops are large cardamom, ginger, potato, soybean, fruit crops and vegetables etc. Large cardamom is raised on commercial basis and is exported both within and outside the country. Over 16,949 farmers cultivate large cardamom in the Sikkim Himalaya of which 15,209 are small and marginal farmers, while around 30 percent are totally dependent on this crop for their survival. Large cardamom plantation covers about 26 thousand hectares of land under cultivation. With about 54 percent of the global market for large cardamom, India is the largest producer in the world, followed by Nepal with 33 per cent of the market and Bhutan with 13 per cent. Of the Indian output, almost 88 per cent come from Sikkim. It is, therefore, a foreign exchange earner crop of Sikkim.
Deteriorating Health of Large Cardamom Orchards
Large cardamom farming in Sikkim has,however, been suffering from decline in production and gradual drying and subsequent death of the plant in the last 1 to 1.5 decades. There has been a steady decline in the yield of large cardamom over the years. One of the important factors of declining yield of the crop is ascribed to old age of cardamom bushes. A section of the policy makers and farmers also believe that monoculture of cardamom plants in the same fields for generations, is perhaps, an added cause of declining productivity of the cardamom. However, a further more important and serious factor in this regard has been the destruction of cardamom orchards by viral diseases in recent years. There are increasing warnings from the scientists, policy makers and people on field that change in temperature and rainfall pattern in the region over last many years could be the potential factors of the disease spreading viruses and subsequent destruction and declining productivity of large cardamom plantations across Sikkim.
Measures Taken
Both adaptive and mitigative measures have been undertaken by the farmers to sustain their livelihood. These measures have been taken both at the household/community initiative as well as with the support of the government. In the first case, the farmers are resorting to alternative livelihood opportunities like experimenting other cash crops like ginger, orange, horticulture at commercial level. With regard to the mitigative measures, the farmers are spraying pesticides, cleaning the fields, keeping the land fallow for some years and replanting the fields with fresh cardamom saplings. The government, especially Spices Board of India, has been helping the farmers since last many years to salvage their livelihood. The results of the mitigative measures have not been very fruitful, nonetheless.
Conclusion
A fundamental question to be seriously taken under such a situation is: if Sikkim does away with its large cardamom farming in the near future what would be the fate of a large section of agrarian population dependant on cardamom farming. It would not only affect the state's agricultural economy but also the Indian spice trade in a major way. Since, many people in the rural areas has been dependent on cardamom as the main cash crop providing them with a significant part of their livelihood, the impact of steadily falling health of cardamom orchards and declining yield is likely to be disastrous. Such a scenario calls for a need to work out and evolve a comprehensive strategy to revitalise the health of cardamom plants and sustain the yields. The plants affected by the viral diseases cannot be cured but the losses may be minimised by adopting appropriate management practices.
(Vimal Khawas )
