In the run up to the most important international climate summit this year, the COP30 in Belém in Brazil, Julia Knights talks to acclaimed Indian independent photojournalist and National Geographic Explorer, Harsha Vadlamani, about the impacts of climate change and the green revolution on rural livelihoods in Punjab.
Julia Knights: What inspired you to take on an eight year photojournalist project between 2016 to 2024 to document the impacts of climate change and the green revolution on farmers in Punjab?
Harsha Vadlamani: When I first travelled to Punjab in 2016, I was not aware of the region’s agrarian crisis. I had just spent two months documenting a terrible drought in Marathwada in west-central India. Crop losses and debt forced 568 farmers to take their own lives in the first six months of the year. I vividly remember a farmer there telling me that he, too, would someday be able to harvest as much as Punjabi farmers and become prosperous.
In other parts of India, Punjab is largely seen as a success story. Planners and officials continue to push the Green Revolution’s model of employing high-yielding varieties of seeds, chemical fertilisers, and pesticides. So, when I heard that the farmers in Punjab were not doing well, I was surprised and wanted to understand the issues better. I made another trip shortly afterwards, and as there was so much ground to cover, and so many layers to uncover, I kept going back.
JK: In the 1960’s, the Green Revolution aimed to feed half a billion people in India with the introduction of hybrid seeds, synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, enabling an impressive increase in agricultural production in India’s states including Punjab. This surely is an economic and food security success story, towards tackling hunger and improving livelihoods?
It definitely helped India make significant strides in food grain production and reduce dependence on imports. Food grain production went up from 50.82 million tonnes in 1950-51 to 314.51 million tonnes in 2021-22. However, hunger continues to be an issue – it is estimated that 40% of food produced in India goes to waste due to inadequate storage and inefficient supply chains, leaving the most vulnerable sections of our population hungry and malnourished.
JK: Punjab, which represents 1.5% of India’s geographical area, now produces about 16% of India’s wheat and 11% of its rice. What was the thinking behind Punjab farmers being encouraged to shift from traditional crops such as pulses, maize, and oilseeds to rice and wheat during the Green Revolution?
India faced significant challenges in ensuring food security and depended so heavily on imports that many called it a ‘ship-to-mouth’ economy. As the volume of imports continued to grow well into the 1960s, the Indian government decided to do something radically different and encouraged more farmers to grow food grains. Punjab’s fertile soils and good irrigation facilities made it an obvious choice for these experiments with food production.
JK: You’ve been documenting the long-term impacts of the green revolution on water, soil, and rural livelihoods in Punjab. What specifically are the issues?
Decades of intense monocropping have led to a decline in soil fertility, and farmers now spend more than ever on fertilisers and pesticides. When the crops are not doing well, farmers spray more than the recommended amounts of these chemicals in an attempt to save them. Whatever is not absorbed by the plants, such as nitrates, phosphates, and pesticide chemicals, pollutes the ground and surface water resources.
JK: Rice in particular is very demanding of water. What has been the consequence of growing this crop on groundwater supplies?
Rice is a very thirsty crop. It takes about 3000-5000 litres of water to produce a kilo of rice, and producing so much rice has had a severe impact on Punjab’s water resources. Farmers initially relied on canals to water their crops, but tubewells – pipes bored deep underground to extract water from underground aquifers – are a much more convenient and reliable source of water. Farmers do not have to spend nights out in the cold to wait for their turn to draw water at 3 or 4 AM. The government began providing free electricity to these tubewells, so farmers switched to them en masse.
A groundwater expert from the Punjab Agriculture University told me that farmers are now tapping into aquifers surrounded by rocks rich in minerals such as uranium, lead and arsenic, and this water is being used for both agriculture and household consumption.
Of late, farmers have also been growing maize as a third crop during the summer months, which is adding to the stress on groundwater reserves.
Water levels are now dropping at an average of 49cm per year, and 117 of the state’s 150 administrative sub-units are drawing more water than is being replenished. The Central Groundwater Board warned that the state might run out of groundwater by 2039.
JK: What impact is climate change and changing weather patterns having on agriculture and livelihoods in Punjab?
In 2015, a sudden increase in temperatures and humidity resulted in a massive whitefly attack and two-thirds of the state’s cotton crop was destroyed. At least 15 farmers killed themselves because of the losses. An unprecedented hailstorm in March 2024 had damaged standing crops in 26 villages in Bathinda, where I spent a lot of time working on this project.
It is not just the bigger shifts in patterns or extreme weather conditions that are affecting farmers. They talked to me about more instances of smaller changes in weather patterns that affect crops. A week’s delay in rain during an important phase of the crop, for example, could affect the yields. When it doesn’t rain enough, farmers are forced to spend more on fertilisers and pesticides to save their crops. Often, it doesn’t work. They suffer crop losses when it rains heavily or when the crop is ready to be harvested. Last week, unseasonal rains damaged wheat waiting to be sold in grain markets.
JK: You mention above about groundwater pollution in some villages in Punjab. What have been the impacts on the health of farmers and their families?
Water in many villages is now unfit for human consumption. Doctors and farmers talk about an increase in hypertension, chronic kidney disorders, infertility and cancers. Cancers, especially, are a major cause for concern. Before the government established specialised hospitals in the south of Punjab, patients from here would take an overnight train to get treated at a cancer hospital in the neighbouring Rajasthan. So many of the train’s passengers were cancer patients that it was infamously referred to as the Cancer Express.
JK: You have documented many protests by Punjab farmers since 2020. What are their demands, and what have been the outcomes?
The protests of 2020-21, when the farmers laid siege to Delhi’s borders for over a year, were in response to the Union government’s plan to bring in three farm laws. Farmers suspected these laws would eventually lead to the corporate takeover of farming, and hundreds of them marched with their tractors to Delhi. The government eventually gave in and rolled back all the laws. One of the demands of the 2020-21 protests was an assured Minimum Support Price for all farm produce, so they could move away from the rice and wheat cycle of the Green Revolution. There were several protests in the state, but when the government did not respond positively to their demands, they set off on their tractors again towards Delhi. This time, however, they were stopped at the state’s borders by the police and paramilitary forces. They occupied the highways there for thirteen months before they were forcibly evicted earlier this year.
JK: What impact has the Minimum Support Price (MSP) payment had on farmers’ livelihoods?
The government began offering MSP as an incentive for farmers to switch to growing rice and wheat. It was a safety net that offered protection even if the market prices fell below the MSP. The biggest beneficiaries of the MSP regime were the medium and large farmers. Today, an agricultural household in Punjab earns twice the national average and MSP has contributed to this.
However, farming has largely become unsustainable for farmers with holdings of three acres or less due to rising input costs and the vagaries of climate change. Farmworkers are also badly affected by this. Increased mechanisation of farm work in Punjab has also left many of them without work, and they find it hard to sustain themselves.
A study commissioned by the state government found that 16,606 farmers and farmworkers killed themselves between 2000 and 2015.
JK: Can you share any stories of community sustainable agriculture projects in Punjab in response to some of these issues?
There are many farmers who are trying out sustainable farming practices. Kheti Virsat Mission works with farmers to create sustainable farming models and conserve natural resources. There are other smaller collectives, too, but the economies of scale often don’t seem to be working in their favour.
JK: India has committed to cutting its greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2070 and has a huge and positive leadership role to play in the global efforts to tackle climate change and produce food in a way that puts nature and the planet first. Who is inspiring you most right now in India in this endeavour?
It is hard to name just a few, but I often think of Dukku Chamaru Tofa. He is an elder of the Gond indigenous community in central India, whom I had the great honour of meeting and photographing while working on a story on community-led conservation. “Who owns this forest? Not the government, not the village, nor any of us. The real owners are those not yet born. We are merely custodians, entrusted with the privilege of taking only what we need while leaving the heritage intact for future generations,” he said. I find inspiration and purpose in his words.
