ISLAMABAD: The effects of climate change on the capital’s agri-sector are becoming more and more visible.

Although experts are calling these anomalous climatic ‘a new normal’, the situation has left small farmers and home-based gardeners in a state of confusion.

Mohammad Shah, an Islamabad-based home gardening enthusiast, planted gourd, cucumber and even pumpkin, but all his plants yielded very little produce. “There were several issues; flowers did not develop into fruit-bearing stage or fell off the plant,” he told Dawn.

Similar complaints of a failed vegetable crop have been pouring in from other residents of the federal capital.

Disruption of honey bee pollination activity in Potohar region affecting yields

Incidentally, not only has the Potohar region witnessed dry and exceptionally hot summer months this year, there have also been occasional cool spells. Recent rains have made nights very cold, even though daytime temperatures are still in the high thirties.

Most experts, however, agree that this summer’s low vegetable yield can be linked to extreme temperatures and sudden fluctuations between hot and cold weather during the night.

“Whenever there is extraordinary heat or a lack of rain, as was the case in this region this summer, plants start to give a weary look. Many home gardeners tend to water their plants in such cases; some even apply additional urea or chicken manure, which is very rich in nutrition. Although such tactics yield extraordinarily large plants, their flowers wilt as soon as they reach maturity,” said Ghulam Jelani, programme manager of the vegetable research section at NARC.

Mr Jelani also heads the project to promote domestic-gardening in Islamabad; an initiative that has a membership of around 500-strong, in addition to some 3,000 amateur kitchen gardeners. “We all need to adjust with this ‘new normal’; the same trend is visible in the case of the winter crops as well.”

He pointed out that even now, maximum temperatures still hover around the 34 degrees Celsius-level, whereas the mercury drops to half of that level, down to around 17 degrees Celsius at night.

Due to high heat, celery, parsley and iceberg saplings at the vegetable research section of NARC failed to germinate. Officials say they will planted them again after the Ashura holidays.

Though commercial farmers have not faced any such issues, their excessive use of various medicines to strengthen their plants for additional fruiting may be keeping them blissfully unaware of the ill-effects of climate change.

However, sensing the seriousness of the situation, the Punjab government has already launched a research project to determine the impact of changing climate on vegetable production and are seeking a way out.

“The provincial government has directed Ayub Agriculture Research Institute in Faisalabad and the Pir Mehar Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University in Rawalpindi to carry out research in this regard,” said Haroon Ahmed, assistant director of the Agriculture Information Department, Punjab.

Climatic shifts have also taken on a toll on the capital’s fragile eco-system, with pollination suffering the most.

Shahid Khan, a more experienced home-gardener from Shahzad Town, told Dawn that his attempts to pollinate a bitter gourd vine by hand were more successful than vines that were left to their own devices.

The main reason for this pollination deficiency has been linked to a disorder among honey bees. Often dubbed a gardener’s best friend, honey bees are the preferred mode of pollination by green-fingered individuals because they do not leave their own larvae in flowers or seasonal vegetables after they have pollinated it.

These patterns are not isolated; reports from several countries across the globe indicate that climate change has been affecting honey bees and regional experts also suspect that the honey bee activity in the area has decreased.

“The main difference between honey bees and most other insects is that it does not lay their own eggs in the flowers – resulting in infected fruits – but other insects take advantage of the flowers at their fruiting stage and their offspring thrive in the fruit or vegetable formed,” said Shahidullah, assistant director at the National Agriculture Research Centre (NARC).

He pointed out that in addition to climate change, the honey bee’s lethargic activity could also be attributed to the excessive use of pesticides.

“But since there are only a limited number of heavy pesticide users in the Rawalpindi and Islamabad region because of the lack of large scale farming in the area – the most likely factor affecting the honey bee population is temperature variations,” Shahidullah added.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2016