During 2020-2021, India's farmers were protesting against the passage of three agriculture bills that have a core relation to income insecurity. They were later repealed leading to a long-awaited victory for Indian farmer unions.
Climate change and varied rainfall during the monsoon season were other sources of difficulty for Indian farmers.
According to the Economic Survey of India (2017-2018), the country's yearly average rainfall has fallen by 86 mm between 1970 and 2015.
The progressive decrease in rainfall means that Indian farmland is unirrigated and dependent on timely rainfall, which disrupts agricultural growth patterns.
Photography source: Unsplash.com - Sumeet Singh
Farming land in Punjab
Managing editor and journalist, Omair Ahmad, discovered the problems central to the agriculture crisis:
"As global temperatures have risen, rainfall has become less predictable, with longer droughts and shorter rainfall periods."
This has a direct influence on crop productivity by increasing carbon dioxide levels and decreasing crop nutrition levels. Crops also have a shorter growing season because rainfall is uncertain. Crop productivity will gradually decline.
With the climate crisis having an impact, many farmers in India are struggling to find farming profitable for them." He said
Indian farmers lack trust in the government and their ability to control or even protect their farming without posing risks. The protests happening worldwide will remain as an example and a warning of what the future could hold as the planet gets warmer.
The question of political instability remains for the threats of climate change and threatens farmers' way of life, entering the pressures of poverty.
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