Climate Change Threatens India’s Food Security as Heatwaves, Droughts and Crop Losses Mount – Indian PSU

Climate change is increasingly threatening India’s food security, with rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, droughts and extreme weather events disrupting agricultural production and the supply chains that bring food from farms to consumers.

A research paper released by Climate Trends, titled From Risk to Resilience: Climate Change, Ecology and the Future of Indian Agriculture, highlights the growing economic and ecological risks facing India’s agricultural sector. It calls for a transition towards sustainable, climate-resilient agricultural practices.

The report underlines that India’s food crisis is no longer confined to agricultural production. Weak storage infrastructure, inadequate cold-chain facilities, market disruptions and declining soil health are compounding the losses.

The scale of the problem is evident in the post-harvest sector. Nearly one-third of fruits and vegetables are lost before reaching consumers, while weak cold-chain infrastructure is estimated to cost India approximately US$13 billion annually.

Only 4% of India’s fresh produce is covered by cold-chain facilities.

The economic consequences are already visible. During the summer of 2024, India’s hottest year on record, a fruit seller at Delhi’s Azadpur Mandi reportedly lost more than ₹1 lakh in a single day after mangoes that normally lasted two days perished within 24 hours.

Agriculture faces mounting climate risks

According to the report, heat stress alone costs India an estimated ₹2,661 crore annually in lost milk production, equivalent to approximately 1.8 million tonnes of milk or nearly 2% of national output.

More than 20 million hectares of agricultural land, representing over 14% of India’s total sown area, have been affected by extreme weather events, including floods, droughts, cyclones, heatwaves and cold waves.

Approximately 40% of India’s livestock population is vulnerable to extreme weather events, while 45% of crop-producing land lies in areas exposed to significant flood risk.

The report also highlights the deterioration of soil health and the growing dependence on chemical fertilisers. Per-hectare chemical fertiliser consumption more than doubled between 1990 and 2023, increasing from 73.5 kg to 199 kg.

Air pollution-related crop damage is another major concern. Crops lost due to air pollution could otherwise have provided food for nearly 94 million people.

Agriculture and allied activities account for 13.7% of India’s greenhouse gas emissions, driven largely by livestock, rice cultivation and fertiliser use.

Experts call for changes in agricultural policies

T. Nandakumar, President of Bharat Krishak Samaj and former Union Agriculture Secretary, highlighted the need to address policy and market risks faced by farmers.

He questioned the impact of sudden export restrictions on farmers, pointing out that there is no adequate mechanism to calculate or compensate for the losses they suffer.

He also called for greater decentralisation of agricultural policymaking, arguing that states should have more authority over areas such as seed regulation, pesticide regulation, risk compensation and crop incentives.

Dr G V Ramanajaneyulu, Executive Director of the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, warned that the impact of drought extends beyond a single agricultural season.

He pointed out that six states had declared drought, while significant variations existed even within individual states and districts.

He also questioned the effectiveness of existing crop insurance mechanisms, arguing that increasing climate risks and insurance premiums were placing additional financial pressure on states and farmers.

According to him, the priority should be to reduce agricultural risks rather than simply attempting to insure against them.

Early warnings must translate into action

Dr Anand Sharma, former Additional Director General of the India Meteorological Department, stressed that weather advisories must reach farmers in time and be accompanied by practical support.

He called for greater emphasis on drought-resistant crops during El Niño years, improved access to life-saving irrigation and the restoration of traditional pond systems.

He cautioned that early warnings without early action would not solve the problem.

Dr SC Bhan, Consultant for Crop Insurance at the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and former IMD scientist, called for greater use of satellite technology and remote sensing to assess agricultural risks at the farm level.

He emphasised the role of ISRO in developing high-resolution estimates of rainfall and soil moisture, along with dynamic crop-weather calendars that can be adjusted according to changing monsoon patterns.

Siraj Hussain, former Chairman of the Food Corporation of India and former Union Agriculture Secretary, highlighted gaps in crop insurance coverage, particularly for tenant farmers.

He questioned the effectiveness of insurance deadlines when the monsoon failure is already evident before farmers can enrol in insurance schemes.

He also called for a mechanism that would allow tenant farmers to access agricultural loans and government benefits without compromising landowners’ property rights.

Climate finance and sustainable farming need priority

Dr Pankaj Kumar Shah, Director (Agriculture and Horticulture), National Rainfed Area Authority, called for a framework to protect farmers against drought-related losses.

He also advocated agroforestry as a means of diversifying agricultural incomes and improving livelihood security.

Tapan Kumar Sahoo, Deputy General Manager, NABARD, stressed the need to translate climate commitments into actual financing for farmers.

He suggested redirecting a portion of existing subsidies towards climate-resilient solutions, including replacing diesel pump sets with solar-powered alternatives.

He also highlighted the importance of farm-level data, value-chain financing and local institutions such as Primary Agricultural Credit Societies, Farmer Producer Organisations and Regional Rural Banks in improving access to climate-resilient technologies.

Climate resilience requires a comprehensive transition

Aarti Khosla, Director of Climate Trends, said Indian agriculture was facing simultaneous pressures from El Niño, deteriorating soil health, declining groundwater levels and decades of input-intensive farming.

She warned that the impact was extending beyond farms to food markets, household budgets and inflationary pressures.

She also highlighted India’s dependence on fertilisers manufactured using imported fossil fuels, pointing to vulnerabilities in international supply chains.

The report recommends moving beyond organic certification towards investment in farmer training, infrastructure and market access. It also calls for expanding crop and weather-indexed insurance to include tenant farmers, strengthening early-warning systems and increasing investment in bio-fertilisers and sustainable agricultural practices.

It further recommends developing agricultural carbon markets to provide additional income opportunities for farmers through transparent carbon accounting and regulated benefit-sharing mechanisms.

With climate risks increasingly affecting agricultural production, livestock, food distribution and consumer prices, the report argues that India’s response must go beyond weather forecasting and emergency relief.

Building climate resilience will require coordinated action across agriculture, water management, infrastructure, finance, technology and public policy.

The writer of this article is Dr. Seema Javed, an environmentalist & a communications professional in the field of climate and energy