Unseasonal rain, hailstorm ‘entirely’ wipe out crops in Zhavame

‘I’ve never witnessed a hailstorm of this magnitude before,’ says 72-year-old citizen

Morung Express News
Zhavame | March 28

In all his years of living in Zhavame village, 72-year-old Salunyi Shupao has not witnessed a hailstorm as severe as the one that occurred on March 26, destroying all the crops that the farming community in the village had pinned their hopes on. 
“The hailstorm lasted for about 25 minutes- the longest that I have seen in all my life”, he told The Morung Express aftermath of the hailstorm. 

The ice has not completely melted even this morning, he said while expressing anguish over the extensive damage that it has caused. 

Fields that were thriving with peas, potatoes, cabbage, spring onion, etc. have been wiped out entirely by the hailstorm.

 “Nothing is left. Nothing has been spared including fruits like plum, peach, guava, mango, and even flowers,” Shupao maintained. 

Last year, he recalled being able to harvest about 10 bags of potato whereas on an average, each household was able to sell Rs 30,000 worth of peas. 

If not for the hailstorm, the farmers in Zhavame would have been ready to harvest the peas in April and potato in May before they start the process of transplanting paddy in the terrace fields. 

Seeing that peas do well in the area, several number of Self Help Groups had also come together to cultivate the particular crop this year.

However, all their hopes of generating any income out of the crop have been dashed.

“It was just so bad, to the extent that it even caused the pea pods to break open and there’s nothing left for us to take,” Shupao calimed.

The hailstorm in Zhavame village on March 26 has also left its natives reflecting on the impact of climate change that the current generation are also clearly witness to.

Truvi Rhi, a young native of the village, felt that the climate even in this part of the world is changing rapidly and at the same time, fears that the worst is still yet to come. 

“What is happening within our own village is alarming,” he expressed while stating concern for “over exploitation of natural resources and cutting down of trees in large quantity every year.”

If these issues are not addressed, he underscored, “The situation could be disastrous in the next 5-10 years.” 

“Unless we urgently plan strategies to plant more trees, protect our forest, completely ban hunting of birds and animals at any cost, our village could face drastic climate change impacting our cultivation and economy,” he added.