Climate change and farmers

Hey there 👋🏻

We began our circle on Wednesday by asking people what made them hopeful right now. It was very heartwarming to know that the discussions that we are having in our circles is a big source of hope for many of you. This is truly the mission behind having these circles. It could never become what it has (and what it is going to be) without all of you showing up the way you have! ❤️

We learnt how climate change is making farming an unviable profession in India and heard the story of Kheyti, which is helping farmers increase their monthly revenues while simultaneously adapting to the effects of climate change.

Sathya begins by talking about a particular incident that deeply affected him: seeing a farmer eat mud to satisfy his hunger because his crops had failed. He touched upon an important point: to look at the root cause (in this case, lack of money) when we see someone doing something that seems absurd to us.

Upon talking to many farmers, he realised that the root cause for the despair of our farmers is “climate risk”.

What is this new term, climate risk?

Simply put, it is the risk that climate change causes to our lives and our livelihoods. In the case of farmers:

• success in one season doesn’t ensure success in the next

• crops that they were earlier able to grow in summers can no longer be grown due to increased heat

• well are drying up, there are new varieties of pests and diseases

Farmers have been feeling helpless and most of them are not linking their problems to human-caused climate change. Nikhil mentioned that the farmers around his home do know about climate change but do not know what they can do to address the problem. Sayee added that one of his uncles is a very successful farmer now and always looked at farming from a business perspective. A key part of his journey was learning about and implementing new technology on his own and thus, awareness is a key component.

Now, we cannot rapidly cool the planet as a whole, but Kheyti has found a way to create a climate for a small portion of a farmer’s land by using a greenhouse that sits on a portion of the farmer’s land.

A greenhouse is a small, easy-to-build structure which is covered by netting to cut-off heat, prevent bugs and save water.

Two key impacts of a greenhouse:

• 7 times higher yield

• 90% less water requirement

The cost?

Right now, 1000$ for one greenhouse. Farmers pay 100$ upfront and the rest is financed through a loan.

The outcome?

An extra 100$ in the income every month for each farmer.

Sathya believes that we cannot look for marginal gains of 5-10% increase in farmer’s incomes as the baseline is way too low. And the income also has to be reliable. His vision is to reach every smallholder farmer in his lifetime to bring dignity, hope and stability to their lives.

2 ways in which we can bring the best technologies to smallholder farmers:

• listening to them with curiosity, empathy and compassion

• keeping smallholder farmers, especially women farmers, at the center while designing solutions

Rohan brought up an important critical perspective by highlighting that $1000 is not cheap in the context of India and pointed out that we need to look at the numbers for how many farmers have actually repaid their loan completely. Surya additionally wanted to know who is responsible for the maintenance and monitoring of a greenhouse.

However, we also acknowledged that they are just getting started, and solution along with the thought behind it is very much appreciated.

Finally, Jagadeesh shared how the size of one’s land is a very important factor:

Just like Sathya had a pivotal moment that affected him and stayed with him, do you have any such moment(s) that have left a deep impression on you? Please consider sharing it with us by replying to this email (if you’re viewing this in your inbox) or leaving a comment (if you’re viewing it on Substack).

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