India is entering an unusually early summer yet again with March expected to be one of the hottest on record. The soaring temperatures, arriving weeks ahead of schedule, pose a risk to the country’s staple wheat crop, which is already under pressure after three consecutive years of poor yields. India is the second-largest wheat producer in the world, but consecutive years of extreme heat have seen yields slashed, forcing the country to ban exports of the grain in 2022 to protect domestic supplies, impacting global wheat markets.
Wheat is planted from October to December and needs cool temperatures to grow properly. When temperatures rise too early, wheat grains shrivel and ripen too soon, leading to lower yields. The heatwave startedy early this year, with the western belt of Mumbai, Goa, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Karnataka experiencing extreme temperatures in February – a month that is typically milder. Scientific evidence is increasingly linking India’s worsening heatwaves to the climate crisis.
Presentation -Dibyabharati Nayak