Climate change: India's crops are feeling the heat

The looming climate crisis is affecting everything from rice to apples—most for the worse, and some for the better—as farmers struggle to cope

Indian agricultural output continues to rise—especially foodgrain production—but that hides the turmoil that Indian farmers actually face

While erratic weather and disasters from drought to flood hit production in some parts of the country, productivity gains elsewhere balance it out in total

But the reality is that India could face $7 billion in agricultural losses by 2030, with the incomes of its vast farm workforce on the line

To adapt and survive, we need to understand just how changing temperatures are reshaping crops of all hues

Jagtar Singh lost his cotton crop twice. In just over two weeks. First, it was the rains that lashed Chaina village in Punjab’s Faridkot district in the first week of May, just after sowing. The unseasonal rains killed them before they could even germinate.

On second sowing, the seeds did germinate. But the crop couldn’t withstand the severe heatwave around 15-20 May, which again, was “extremely uncharacteristic” Singh says over the phone.

“Hundreds of farmers lost their entire crop in the village, which has never happened before.”

Earlier this year, a similar story played out with wheat.

AUTHOR

Pradip Kumar Saha

Pradip has been a journalist for close to 12 years. In his previous stint at financial newspaper Mint, which lasted over a decade, he switched to reporting from desk and wrote on a variety of subjects, including sports, food, whiskies and all things luxury. Born and raised in Patna, Pradip has a diploma in journalism from Indian Institute of Mass Communication. He is interested in good stories across beats. When not pursuing a story, he divides his time between food, tea, whisky, watches, Ghalib and Gulzar, in no particular order. At The Ken he writes weekend features and also covers companies like Uber, OYO, Zomato and Delhivery.

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