In addition to climate, water, and soil challenges, zaid farming in India faces other issues, including:
Zaid farming occurs during the driest months of the year, making irrigation the single most important factor for success. zaid farming challenges india climate water soil
The challenge was not over. Climate change would bring new pests, new heat spikes, new erratic floods. But Zaid had learned this: in India, the farmer does not defeat the land. He dances with it—even when the music keeps changing. In addition to climate, water, and soil challenges,
Once black as a monsoon cloud and rich as dark chocolate, Zaid’s soil had turned ashen and crusted. Years of chemical urea—bought on credit from the village shop—had killed the earthworms. When he dug his hands in, he found no squirming life, only hard clods that cracked in the heat. Salt had risen from the lower depths, leaving white crystals on the surface like a curse. His father’s fields had smelled of wet earth after rain. Now they smelled of nothing. But Zaid had learned this: in India, the
India is the world’s largest user of groundwater, and the Zaid season is the biggest stressor. "In March, the temperature hits 40 degrees Celsius, and evaporation rates soar," explains Dr. Kanan, a hydrologist based in Haryana. "Farmers have to pump relentlessly. In states like Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan, the water table is falling by a meter every year. For Zaid farming, the cost of boring deeper and running diesel pumps is becoming unsustainable."