By Bhogtoram Mawroh
A recent article by Anna Notsu titled ‘A Rain of Blessings’: Rethinking our Future with Water’, brought to light the very intimate connection that rains have to the landscape of Meghalaya and the culture of its people. She mentioned the unprecedented hailstorms in Shillong to the unusually prolonged dry, hot days in East Jaintia and how water, whether too little or too much, has become a topic of everyday conversations in the state. She asks the pertinent question: what will happen if the situation repeats in the future, possibly worsening in the coming years? Looking at the weather pattern of the last few years, it seems her fears are coming true a little too soon.
On June 17, 2022, Mawsynram recorded 1,003.6 mm of rainfall in a day, breaking the record it had held since 1940. On the same day, Sohra, also known as Cherrapunjee, recorded the maximum daily rainfall of 972 mm—the highest in 27 years. I accompanied a team from The Wire, a national publication, to Sohrarim on the day these records were broken, documenting the agricultural practices of the Khasis living on the watershed dividing Sohra from Khat-ar Shnong. Strong winds almost blew me off the cliff as I struggled with my umbrella while trying to climb down 3000 steps to the village where the community was waiting for us. Innumerable waterfalls had begun streaming down the steep walls of the watershed, making the entire landscape appear like something out of a movie depicting a magical scene in the Amazon, in search of a lost city or hidden civilization. However, the heavy rainfall had a devastating impact especially on the potato crops elsewhere. Over the next weeks, as I travelled to the different villages on the plateau, I heard the same story repeated by the farmers—crops being destroyed by the strong winds and heavy rainfall.
The following year, 2023, was also extreme—but in the opposite direction. Besides the monsoon season (June to September), Meghalaya receives substantial rainfall during the pre-monsoon season, from April to late May. Rainfall during these months is comparable to the monsoon season and is vital for vegetable crops like beans. Any delay in rainfall could have adverse effects on the farmers who are looking to harvest these crops and prepare the field for planting new crops. That year, however, the rains were uncharacteristically very late. I had gone for a workshop with the farmers in West Khasi Hills. But while I waited with my colleagues for the farmers, someone informed us that the farmers could not attend the program. The evening before, the rains had finally arrived, and they immediately went to the fields to prepare the land for sowing crops. Any delay and the entire year could have gone to waste. I learned this lesson again during a visit to a village in Ri Bhoi last month.
Around the same time that Anna’s article was published, I accompanied a photographer from National Geographic who was working on a story for Nature’s ‘Where I work’ series. During our interaction with the farmers, they pointed out the dried-up leaves and the widespread pest attacks affecting the bean plants. The delay in rainfall slowed the maturing of the crop and the farmers could not harvest them. Soil temperature was also quite high, delaying the planting of ginger, which is one of the most important cash crops for the community in this village. Near to the village is Bhoirymbong, which is the largest wholesale market for ginger, bringing traders from inside and outside the state. So, any impact on the ginger crop could have had a devastating effect on the local economy and lives of the farmers. Fortunately, rainfall arrived soon afterward, saving the farmers, at least temporarily.
The delay in rainfall also has the effect of raising the temperature, whose impact can go beyond desiccating the crops and delay the planting season. In 2023, the temperatures rose sharply and many parts of the state started experiencing heat waves. The temperatures in Garo Hills reached almost 40 degree Celsius, forcing the closure of educational institutes in many parts of the state. I’m already planning to buy a fan for the summer months—something I never imagined would be necessary in Shillong.
As an organisation which is working with the revitalisation and strengthening of the Indigenous Peoples Food Systems, NESFAS (North East Society for Agroecology Support) is very concerned with the impact that climate change can have on indigenous peoples. They contributed a case study to the 2024 CSE (Centre for Science and Environment) publication First Food: Future of Taste. In the chapter titled Solace in Diversity, written by NESFAS, farmers in West Khasi Hills reported a trend of decreasing summer rainfall coupled with rising winter temperatures, sparking concerns about potential rice harvest failures in the future. A similar situation is being faced by farmers in Ri Bhoi as well. In Sohra, areas where jhum cultivation is practiced have seen a decline in the yield of jaiing, or black mustard. The central uplands where bun is practised are also experiencing extreme weather, which are affecting the yield of vegetables like cabbages and cauliflower. Farmers in Jaintia Hills have also seen the yield of tuber crops like potato, taro, and especially sohphlang, a local nitrogen-fixing perennial herb, being severely affected by the changing weather. In fact, in 2021 the yield of both potato and sohphlang failed completely in some villages of West Khasi Hills, leaving the farmers with no seeds to plant for the next season. Farmers had to source seeds, either by borrowing or buying them with cash, from neighbouring villages that still had some seeds to spare.
The changing climate has also affected foods that the local indigenous community harvests in the forest. Wild vegetables like jamyrdoh (Houttuynia cordata), and jatira (Oenanthe linearis) are an integral part of the local dishes and are highly rich in micronutrients, especially Vitamin K. These are now becoming difficult to find. This appears to be true for wild fruits as well. In the past, people found wild fruits like sohphie (Myrica esculenta) abundantly during April. But now its fruiting season has been getting delayed by more than a month, i.e., May, which coincides with heavy rainfall. This result in a lot of fruits getting damaged, reducing the amount of fruits people can collect. The community is concerned that if this continues, they may not harvest sohphie anymore in the future.
Last year, I participated in a stakeholder meeting organized by a firm appointed by the Government of Meghalaya to discuss the ‘Meghalaya Climate Emergency & Green Growth Framework’. According to their press release the government appears to have already prepared the draft, which will eventually become law. I’m unsure if the Assembly passed such a bill. But considering the challenges that the farming community is facing and will face in the coming years because of climate change, such legislation is the need of the hour. All of us will therefore look forward when the discussion happens on such a bill in the Assembly. The time to act is already overdue, and any further delay could have devastating consequences for our farmers.
(The views expressed in the article are those of the author and do not reflect in any way his affiliation to any organisation or institution)