65% of the harvest is completely ruined, vegetable farms and orchards look like cemeteries
JUSHAB:
A wave of severe frost wiped out standing tomato crops in villages like Kathha Saghraal, Kathha Misraal and Kotli Rajgan in the foothills of Daman-e-Mahaar in Khushab district.
What a day earlier had been thriving fields of red and green tomato plants were reduced to dry leaves and withered stems overnight.
Farmers said the frigid temperatures caused plant cells to rupture, destroying the crop at a critical stage of maturity.
According to local estimates, more than 65% of the harvest has been completely ruined. Small farmers who had taken out loans to buy seeds and fertilizers now face an uncertain future.
Vegetable farms and orchards look like cemeteries, with little hope of recovery.
Speaking to Express, local producer Malik Abdul Karim said farmers had worked tirelessly during the cold nights, applying fertilizers and maintaining their fields in the hope of getting a good market price this season.
“We hoped to be able to repay our previous loans, but nature had other plans,” he lamented.
The impact is not just limited to farmers. These areas are a major source of tomato supply for the Sargodha, Lahore and Rawalpindi markets, and reduced production is expected to push prices sharply higher in the coming weeks.
Farm workers who travel from distant areas to harvest crops have also returned empty-handed.
Agricultural experts said frosts are not unusual in the region because of its geographic location, but the intensity and timing this year was exceptionally damaging. They warned that climate change is increasingly altering seasonal weather patterns.
Farmers also complained that the agriculture department failed to provide timely warnings and guidance on protective measures such as smoke covers, light irrigation or plastic tunnels.
Former Khushab district council president Malik Ameer Haider Sangha Awan urged the Punjab chief minister to send revenue officials and agricultural experts to assess the damage and announce a special relief package for the affected farmers.
