By Zahiruddin
CHITRAL: The extended winter season in Chitral and the incessant snowfall in the upper parts of the district has delayed the advent of spring season and which is said to bring mixed results for the residents during the coming seasons of the year.
The almonds used to blossom by the mid of February heralding the spring season but this year it is expected by the mid of March due to the intense cold season wrought by snow while the situation in the upper parts of the valley is more worsening than the lower and central parts of Chitral.
The harsh and protracted winter season in distant valleys of Chitral including Garam Chashma, Kalash valleys, Yarkhoon, Laspur, Terich and Torkhow is feared to adversely affect the productivity of cereal crops of wheat, barley and triticale which are largely grown in the area with wheat is the major source of sustenance.
The elderly people said that the prolonged winter season with heavy snowfall casts a pleasant influence on the fruit products specially that of apple, pear, peach, grapes and apricots and they have always observed bumper product of the fruits in the year with plenty of snow.
They said that the impending delay in the cultivation of vegetables will result in the cutback of product because certain alien species of vegetables had been introduced during the last couple of decade which needed ambient temperature after sowing which is not possible this year.
Haji Karim Bakhash of Torkhow said that the people in the upper part of Chitral largely depended on the cereal crops especially wheat for their sustenance while livestock keeping is another major source of their food and income which depended on the crops.
He said that in the years of extended winter seasons, the irrigation system also gets affected as the irrigation channels in the mountainous areas are blocked by the snow avalanches while such problem is confronted by almost every village here.
“I have seen very few such harsh and prolonged winter season during my eighty plus years of life in this valley which have brought poverty to the residents by constricting their agricultural produce”, he said adding that such harsh winter seasons repeats itself in an interval of 10 to 15 years.
A number of villages including Kari, Garam Chashma, Sarghuz, Oveer, Terich and Yarkhun are threatened by snow avalanches caused by the bulky amount of snow accumulated in the hills this year as in the past a large portion of them used to be covered by debris till the month of May.
