Chilly weather freezes farming upcountry

By Ananda KANNANGARA

Many holiday makers in Nuwara Eliya during the past two weeks likened the cold weather conditions that prevailed in the area to that of England. Naturally, they regarded Nuwara Eliya as Little England.

A Sri Lankan national, residing in Australia said he came down to his home town at Hava Eliya in Nuwara Eliya after three years due to the unbearable cold weather currently that prevail in the city of Sydney and suburban areas. He said although he decided to come to Sri Lanka to escape from the icy cold weather in Sydney, the climate in Nuwara Eliya was comfortably above than the prevailing climate in Australia.

The residents in Nuwara Eliya also say that they had never experienced such a cold climate in the District, but according to the elderly citizens, the district had experienced a severe cold climate 60 years ago.

A visitor to Nuwara Eliya these days could see tree tops and ground areas covered with thick frost. The roots and leaves of cabbage and leeks in fact have gone dry due to the ground frost.

The extreme cold weather also hampered the education of many school children. A principal of a school said some schools delayed their opening time due to the cold climate. School boys who normally wear short trousers were permitted to wear long trousers and warm clothes.

The Meteorology Department (MET Dept.) said the current cold weather which drastically affected Nuwara Eliya, Horton Plains, Kandy and the suburban hilly areas will last until the early part of next month.

Temperature

In addition to certain parts of the hill country, the temperature in many other areas in Kandy district such as Katugastota, Polgolla, Lewella, Watapuluwa, Mawilmada, Peradeniya, Halloluwa and Tennakumbura and several areas are comparatively low these days.

Meteorologist P.G. Yasaratne said the existence of the current cold weather in the mornings is due to the absence of cloud presence in the sky at night.

According to the MET Department when there are no clouds, the heat near the earth’s surface rises and escapes into the high atmosphere, and as a result the surface temperature comes down.

The cold weather is also prevalent due to the wind that comes from the Himalayan mountain range from the Northern direction across the Indian Ocean. As a result, the moisture in the air increases and ground frost can also be expected in some areas, particularly during the morning hours.

“The lowest temperature of 10.3 Celsius was reported from Nuwara-Eliya on Saturday January 21 and it was 2.7 Celsius on Tuesday 17th. The temperature in Colombo was 22.7 Celsius on Saturday the 21st and it was 22 Celsius on Tuesday”.

The MET Dept says that this chilly weather pattern gradually changes every moment.

Nippy

A Senior officer attached to the Nuwara Eliya Police said a large number of visitors travelled to Kandy from Nuwara Eliya last week as it was extremely nippy at Nuwara Eliya and surrounding areas during that period.

The Sunday Observer last week visited Nuwara Eliya to witness the real situation in the District and also to speak with cultivators on how the cold climate affects their day to-day activities.

A 57-year-old father of three, Gunasiri Sumanapala said he has been a vegetable cultivator at Nuwara Eliya for the past 40 years and had never experienced such a cold climate.

“Fifty per cent of my cabbage and carrot cultivation was destroyed due to the falling of ground frost in the morning”.

He said no Government official visited their gardens to see the situation and proposed authorities to help cultivators at this juncture.

Vegetable cultivator, Piyasena Mudalige said the last week’s cold weather conditions and the thick frost badly destroyed both his vegetable and flower cultivation.

He said the authorities cannot stop weather patterns, but they could help cultivators to recommence their destroyed plantations by giving at least bank loans to redress the situation.

He also said he earns around Rs. 15,000 a month from florists in Colombo for supplying flowers and foliage plants, but he will not be able to sell flowers this time as the entire plantation was destroyed due to the cold weather.

A horticulture cultivator, Kamalasiri Premachandra said last week’s cold climate in Ambewela badly hit his horticulture cultivation and the loss was estimated around Rs. 20,000. He said he obtained a small bank loan to buy flower nurseries and urged the Nuwara Eliya Divisional Secretary to help all cultivators whose cultivations were hampered following the cold climate last week. A 58-year old M. Nandawathi said she has been engaged in vegetable cultivation for the past 15 years and said that this was the worst climate that she had ever witnessed in her life time.

“The last week’s climate badly hit my carrot and cabbage cultivation and I hope authorities would visit our agricultural lands and see the situation,”

Loans

The Secretary of the Nuwara Eliya farmer cultivators Sirisumana Herat urged Government authorities to provide the members of the organisation with bank loans to enable them to construct houses and develop their cultivations.

He said not a single politician in the area listened to the grievances of cultivators in Nuwara Eliya. A vegetable seller in Nuwara Eliya, Senarath Perera said there were a lot of cultivable Government lands in the District and proposed to the authorities to distribute them among people who were interested in plantation.

A vegetable supplier Noel Singho said 60 per cent of vegetables are sent to Colombo from Nuwara Eliya and proposed to the Government to introduce a better transport service, so that farmers could send their vegetable stocks to Colombo and other main cities without any delay.

A vegetable cultivator, P.K. Sunil proposed to the authorities to introduce a scheme to purchase vegetable directly from farmers, so that it will benefit them to earn good profit.