Dry spell, lack of irrigation facilities worry fruit growers

, July 26: The ongoing dry spell has left thousands of apple cultivators in south Kashmir’s Shopian district distraught.Amidst an intense heat wave, the anxious farmers from multiple apple-producing villages of the district are scrambling to irrigate their farms using water pumps.However, many farmers from the upper reaches of the district said that they were unable to irrigate their farms in the absence of water in the irrigation canals.Muzaffar Ahmad, an apple grower from the Shadab Karewa area, said that the irrigation canal passing in the area did not have enough water to irrigate their farms.The concerned department is insensitive towards the issue. The officials have failed to maintain the water supply in the canal,” he said.