Indian farmers fall victim to climate change

Prabhat Barnwal, intern at UNESCAP in Bangkok

In India, poor and resource-constrained farmers are facing severe economic problems because of frequent crop failures caused by erratic rainfall and global warming. Many such farmers get caught in the vicious debt trap and some of them end up committing suicide.

John F. Kennedy once said, “The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways.” Indeed, the farmer pays both ways, but unfortunately the story is not limited to freight, it goes much further than that.

While world leaders are getting ready to seal the deal on a new climate treaty in Copenhagen in December, there are some on this planet for whom climate change poses a direct threat to their very survival. Among those worst affected are poor Indian farmers, with only small pieces of land, but dozens of family members to feed. They are laden with loans, and lack the basic modern agricultural infrastructure. They are already living on the edge, nearing collapse. Climate change just worsens the situation.

As a result, states vulnerable to climate change are witnessing a high and increasing number of suicides among farmers. Across India, more than 16,000 farmers killed themselves in 2007 because of crop failure and the resulting downward spiral of debt.[1] Government statistics show that one Indian farmer committed suicide every 32 minutes from 1997 to 2005, and this rate has increased to one suicide every 30 minutes since 2000.[2]

Not surprisingly, the most climate change vulnerable regions in India are the ones witnessing the highest suicide rates. Maharashtra tops the list with 4,298 incidents of farmer-suicides, while Andhra Pradesh, another state high up the list, had 1,797 incidents in 2007.[3] A recent World Bank study on South Asia found that both these states are among the most vulnerable to the negative consequences of climate change.[4]

There is increasing evidence of the direct impact of climate change on agriculture at farm level. Although studies have estimated agricultural productivity loss by 2080 for India as being one of the world’s highest at about 30%, the situation has already worsened in some regions.[5] Farmers in the Himalayan valley are now finding their farms unsuitable for producing apples.[6] Mango yields declined by almost 50% last year as a result of higher temperatures.[7] Meanwhile, cotton farmers in Maharashtra have had to switch to soybeans because of the frequent failure of their main crop, which is also sensitive to changes in weather.[8] Almost all Indian states share similar stories.

There are cases where farm-level adaptation is helping farmers to overcome the impact of climate change to a certain extent. In the north-eastern state of Nagaland, kidney beans are now being planted further up the mountains in response to increased temperature.[9] In Orissa, erratic rain fall in recent years has made rain-fed agriculture unfeasible, and farmers are shifting to high yielding irrigable agriculture.[10]

However, there is always a limit to such “shifting up” and “patch up” adaptation measures. Even when adaptation measures do succeed in keeping productivity stable, there are other costs, such as increased soil erosion from the mountains, loss in forest covers, and high stress to water resources, which might all be even more disastrous in the long run.

A behaviour modelling study at farm level conducted by the World Bank in Andhra Pradesh has shown that despite the maximum level of pre-adaptation and diversification measures adopted by farmers, climate change may still cause up to a 25% loss in income.[11] Losing 25% of ones income is not an option for poor Indian farmers whose average net income is just USD$25 per acre per year,[12] a sum not nearly sufficient enough to cover the obligations of daily living, such as feeding multiple family members and taking care of elderly parents.

The incremental irregularity of the monsoon and increases in temperature have caused a decrease in productivity and multiple crop failures, which have pushed poor Indian farmers into a vicious cycle of debt from local money lenders. Suicide, for some, has been the only way out. These deaths represent the scary but real face of climate change. Immediate action to help those in desperate need is essential. ■


References

1. Accidental Deaths and Suicide Report 2007, National Crime and Record Bureau, India
2. & 3. P. Sainath. “One farmer’s suicide every 30 minutes”. The Hindu, 15.11.2007.
4. The World Bank, “Climate change impacts in drought and flood affected areas: Case studies in India”, Report No. 43496-IN, June 2008.
5. W.R. Cline, “Global Warming and Agriculture: Impact Estimates by Country”, Washington, Peterson Institute for International Economics, 2007.
6. N. Baduni & 7. S. Pant & 8. D. Mukhopadhyay as discussed on “Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security - Experiences, Examples” on Solution Exchange, UN country team in India, July 2009.
9. R.K. Verma, Nagaland Empowerment of People through Economic Development (NEPED) as discussed on “Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security - Experiences, Examples” on Solution Exchange, UNDP, July 2009.
10. B.K. Pati as discussed on “Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security - Experiences, Examples” on Solution Exchange, UN country team in India, July 2009.
11. S. Pahuja, “Water-related Aspects of Adaptation to Variability and Climate Change”
12. M. Rajivlochan, “Farmers Suicide: Facts and possible policy interventions”, Yashwantrao Chavan Academy of Development Administration, 2006.


Image: UNDP_India