‘The land turned against us’: Kashmir farmers suffer as pests swarm fields and homes

By Khursheed Ahmad Shah

Kupwara, Jammu and Kashmir: In May, as the skies stayed still and the soil cracked open, farmers across Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district waited for the first rains. What arrived instead was an invasion.

From the forests and dry fields, insects began creeping out, black millipedes and ball armyworms, drawn by heat and thirst, fanning across villages in search of moisture.

“When I stepped outside, it looked like someone had spilt black paint everywhere,” said Tariq Lone (26) of Potushai village. “They were everywhere, on the fields, the roads, even on our walls. It felt like the whole village was wrapped in a moving blanket of insects.”

Lone and his family, who grow fruit on their orchard land, tried everything: burning dry grass to make smoke, sprinkling salt, pouring kerosene around the crops. 

“Nothing worked,” he told 101Reporters. “They just kept moving toward the wet patches, courtyards, water channels, freshly planted fields.”

Soon, similar scenes began playing out across the district, in Doniwari, Diwer Marg, Kalaroos and Gulgam.

“Within days, they were inside kitchens, storerooms, even bathroom pipes,” said Mohammad Rafiq Mir (40), a resident of Gulgam. “They hid in cool, damp corners. No matter how many times we cleared them, they came back.”

“This was the first time I saw pests overpower humans,” said Abdul Satar, 59, a farmer from Doniwari. “They were in our kitchens, our bathrooms. We had to take all the carpets out of the house.”

He paused, then added: “It wasn’t just the itching. There was something unnatural about the way they moved. As if the land itself had turned against us.”

A season of damage

This year’s pest outbreak was far more intense than previous ones, both in scale and severity. In areas like Potushai, Lolab, Gulgam, and Chandigam, large sections of maize, oats, and paddy plantations were damaged within days. Leaves were shredded, growth stunted, and entire fields turned pale—clear signs of early crop stress.

“Kupwara had just experienced a prolonged dry spell,” said Dr Firdous Ahmad Raina, a plant protection scientist at Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Kupwara. “This kind of weather, dry conditions followed by sudden rain, forces millipedes and armyworms to surface in search of moisture. That’s exactly what happened this year.”

Millipedes are mostly harmless, though in large numbers, they overwhelmed homes and clogged drains. The ball armyworm, however, is far more destructive.

“These pests feed on the tender shoots and leaves crucial to a crop’s early growth,” Dr Raina explained. “First reported in India in 2018, armyworms have since adapted to multiple climate zones, including high-altitude areas like North Kashmir. They lay eggs on maize leaves, and the larvae aggressively devour foliage, stems, even developing cobs.”

“The infestation this year has been much larger than the usual millipede outbreaks,” he added. “These pests target green vegetative parts and destroy them like anything.”

Unlike pests that typically affect one crop, the ball armyworm is polyphagous—it feeds on many. “In Kupwara, it first attacked wheat and oats,” said Dr Raina. “Then it moved to maize and paddy.”

Dr Kaiser Mohi-ud-din Malik, Director of KVK Kupwara, confirmed this pattern. “The damage mostly occurred during early growth stages,” he said. “We’re still learning how to manage the infestation. There’s no official estimate yet, but in the initial weeks, combined crop loss across affected areas was around 5 kanals—roughly 0.05 hectares. Oat crops in Potushai and Gulgam were hit the hardest.”

Crushed hope

For some farmers in Kupwara, the season ended before it even began. Their hopes were crushed in the earliest days of cultivation, as pests wiped out tender crops just weeks after sprouting.

“These pests didn’t spare anything, they ruined our khaseel, maize seeds, even the paddy,” said Javeed Ahmad (40), a farmer from Kupwara. “For the last two harvest cycles, we have already been going through a tough time. Water levels have dropped so badly that we could not even irrigate our fields properly. Every season, we are just hoping something works out.”

“This year, we thought we might finally manage. We tried to fix things, made small water channels, saved whatever littlewe could, and tried to bring the land back to life. But before we could even see the result, this pest attack happened.”

Ahmad paused before continuing, his voice heavy with disappointment.

“I had a good sipping of maize this time. I was really hopeful. I used to stand there and look at it every day. But within a few days, most of it was gone. They cut everything down while it was still growing. I felt helpless. You keep waiting, watering, caring for it like it’s something of your own, and then it just disappears, like it was never there,” Ahmad told 101Reporters. 

“Now I’ve no option but to reseed the whole garden again. It’s heartbreaking. We put in so much effort with the little we have, and again, we’re starting from zero. It’s like every time we try to rise, something pushes us back down,” Ahmad said. 

Given the spread of pests in the region, agriculture and horticulture departments, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, and KVK Kupwara carried out sanitisation drives. “The coordinated efforts helped minimise damage, and the results were encouraging,” said Dr Raina.

However, farmers said they did not see much difference on the ground. 

Retailers saw the impact too. In Kupwara’s Iqbal Market, Mohammad Iqbal Shah of Shah Agro, a pesticide and agri-input store, said demand had spiked. “Farmers from nearly every household in the affected areas bought insecticides this time, and that wasn’t the case in previous years,” he said. “Usually, half a litre would cover 20 tubs of spray. But this year, because of the heat and how aggressive the pests were, they had to double the quantity.”

Shah said Chlorpyrifos, Rogor (Dimethoate), Cypermethrin, and Ethion were most commonly used.

Shifting climate

Experts have attributed the events in Kupwara and nearby areas to a shifting climate.

“These climate fluctuations are disturbing everything,” said Dr Kaiser Mohi-ud-din Malik, Director of KVK, Kupwara. “The pests that once stayed deep in moist soil or wooded patches are now turning up in people’s homes. That alone says a lot.”

According to Malik, the valley has seen less snowfall, more dry spells, and unusual temperature swings over the last few years. These weather changes are forcing even the smallest creatures to adapt. “These are moisture-loving pests, but with fields and forests drying up, they have no choice but to find moisture elsewhere. Now, they’re entering our living spaces.”

“Millipedes and armyworms don’t really go away,” said Dr Raina. “Their life cycle typically lasts three to five months, but now they’re breeding almost all year round.”

Once they settle into homes or the edges of fields, he explained, they lay eggs in damp corners — places that stay hidden and undisturbed. “When the weather turns favourable again, they hatch, and the problem starts all over.”

To tackle the crisis, the Agriculture Department has been conducting regular pesticide spray drives in coordination with Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST-K) and Krishi Vigyan Kendra since 2023. These drives are carried out under the supervision of senior scientists and KVK officials, who ensure safety protocols are followed during spraying.

The teams use a combination of Finoyal and other targeted insecticides depending on the nature and stage of infestation, aiming to contain the spread and prevent pests from re-entering both crop fields and homes.

These efforts are not just about spraying. The teams also conduct training and awareness campaigns to ensure residents use insecticides safely and only when necessary. So far, the outreach has extended to seven villages, each home to over 100 farming households.

“To protect the crops from pests, we’re conducting field visits and encouraging people to keep their surroundings clean,” said Dr Malik. “We tell them not to collect cow dung near homes or leave drains open—these are favourite breeding spots for pests.”

While there is no consolidated data yet on the extent of crop damage, Malik said that the groundwork is being laid to prevent further destruction.

“As of now, we’re just at the beginning of this effort. But we do have a roadmap in place to control the outbreak. Once the harvest season ends in October, we plan to carry out a comprehensive round of spraying to destroy the remaining eggs and minimise next year’s harm. SKUAST-K, the Agriculture Department, and KVK are doing everything possible to stop it.” [101Reporters/VP]

This article is republished from 101Reporters under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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