A two-fold solution for Ladakh farmers facing water scarcity

DW (English)

Farmers in the Himalayan region of Ladakh are facing a water crisis. The desert area relies heavily on glacial meltwater, but the ice masses are shrinking. A local initiative is combining technology with an age-old tradition to combat the problem.

Transcript

00:0090% of irrigation in this Himalayan region relies on glacial waters.

00:06But the melting of ice masses, resulting in water scarcity, is also threatening farming.

00:12But a local initiative is combining an age-old traditional method with new technology to

00:16combat this problem.

00:18Finally, it's their turn.

00:22Sonam Pamber and his wife now have about an hour to divert the flowing water onto their

00:27field.

00:28They're growing peas.

00:31Coaxing something out of the soil here is becoming harder with each passing year.

00:39We've been farming for the past 70 years, but now it's becoming very difficult.

00:45It used to be very good.

00:46The water was good.

00:47There was snow.

00:49And the weather was good.

00:50We had timely harvests.

00:58Now the limited water available has to be shared equally with the other residents of

01:02Tarhit.

01:05The village is located in the Ladakh region in India's far north.

01:10The cold desert area covers more than 9 million hectares.

01:14It's 4,000 metres above sea level and home to a little more than 200,000 people.

01:20Most of them live from farming.

01:23For thousands of years, glacier water was used to irrigate the fields.

01:28But with temperatures rising due to human-induced climate change, the glaciers are shrinking.

01:34Life for the farmers is tough.

01:38It will become very difficult to farm here in the next few years because of water scarcity.

01:43This year, the weather is bad.

01:45And the water never comes on time either.

01:51Today a group of engineers has come to check things out.

01:54They're from a local NGO called Sekmon that aims to help people in Ladakh build a sustainable future.

02:01To ensure the small mountain stream from the village has enough water in summer, the engineers

02:05have created an ice mound, shaped like a stupa, a traditional Buddhist shrine.

02:12A small artificial glacier, it stores the little water that flows down from the mountains

02:17during winter for use in the summer months.

02:23Farming is done only in summer.

02:25That's when the water is needed.

02:27The winter water is wasted.

02:29It flows into the Indus river and then into Pakistan and to the ocean.

02:33In order to save that water, we made an artificial glacier.

02:39The stupas are based on a wooden frame.

02:42In winter, underground pipes feed the limited water from the mountain to the right place.

02:47Due to the difference in pressure, the water shoots upwards.

02:51The winter air is minus 20 degrees Celsius, so the water freezes as it falls, forming a cone.

03:00A few hundred kilometres further on is the village of Liktse.

03:04Here too people are struggling.

03:06The area gets just 50 millimetres of rain in summer.

03:10But some things have changed.

03:13Today Sklazwang Yangchen is making soup with dried spinach leaves.

03:18She and her husband grew the spinach themselves.

03:20In the past, they only had potatoes.

03:26We grow brinjal, chilli, spinach and peppers and dry them for the winter.

03:33Unlike in the past, they now mulch their fields by leaving plant waste on the beds.

03:38The soil can then better absorb what little rainwater there is and it no longer evaporates immediately.

03:45They learnt this from Jigmeet Yangchen.

03:48She is a scientist at an agricultural research institute based in the city of Leh.

03:53She is helping people here adapt to the changing climate.

04:03We are trying to introduce farmers to new technologies.

04:11And when you meet the farmers face to face, you can see that they have started changing

04:14how they do things.

04:17In the nearby village of Kesar, she is trying to help local women create a sustainable livelihood

04:22for themselves, while also adapting to the changing conditions.

04:27So she arranged for greenhouses to be built.

04:30One is now used by up to 16 families.

04:36Solar panels provide the necessary power.

04:39It's all financed by a state subsidy programme.

04:44We grow our vegetables here collectively, so all our vegetable needs are easily covered.

04:50That means we don't need to buy produce from the market, which is very far away.

04:56The women learnt their agricultural know-how in workshops.

05:00Jigmeet Yangchen initially used public funds to finance the seeds for new crops.

05:06Today, everything grows here.

05:10At an altitude of 5000 metres, we grow mushrooms, strawberries, watermelon and tomatoes.

05:18We were able to grow mushrooms when it was minus 17 degrees Celsius outside.

05:24No one can say today that nothing grows here.

05:30And it's been made possible by the introduction of technology.

05:35The change in climate poses a huge challenge for the people of Ladakh.

05:40They will only be able to stay here if they can grow enough food to live in their homeland,

05:45high up in the cold mountains of the Himalayas.

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