Features
Weathering Change
Declining rainfall affects farmers' crop choices in India
BY TERESA PITMAN
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| Prof. Elizabeth Finnis travelled to India three times for her PhD research. Photo by Martin Schwalbe |
Is climate change a real issue? That's a question that some continue to debate, but the real answer may lie in the stories of people living close to the land.
Take, for example, the farmers in the small village in India where Prof. Elizabeth Finnis, Sociology and Anthropology, did research for her doctoral dissertation. Those farmers don't follow international climate change debates, but they say they've seen local changes. Rainfall patterns aren't the same as they used to be, and the food crops they used to grow for their families just won't grow anymore.
“There are no rainfall pattern data or studies on the rainfall in this particular area to prove it,” says Finnis, “but this is what pretty much all the residents told me.”
She didn't set out to talk about rainfall patterns and the impact on crops with the village farmers.
“I was interested in the relationship between water resource management and access to food originally. But I discovered that what people really wanted to talk about was their change from growing food crops to growing a single cash crop — sweet cassava.”
Until recently, the community's residents grew millet varieties and vegetables for their families. When the rainfall decreased, many of the plants died off. But sweet cassava (which is used as a food starch and thickener in a variety of foods) will grow even without much rain.
Beyond that, people chose to plant cash crops because the money they were paid could send their children to school, weatherproof their homes, bring electrical power to their village and much more, says Finnis. Women, in particular, said the income from cash crops made their lives easier because they didn't have to spend as much time harvesting and preparing food grains — they could buy rice ready to cook.
“This shows how these farmers make decisions based on what their families need and on their understanding of the world,” says Finnis.
For her PhD studies, she travelled to India for three extended research visits, the longest one for six months. It was an experience far removed from her childhood in North Bay and her university years spent earning a BA at McMaster University and an MA at the University of Western Ontario before returning to Hamilton to do her PhD. But she fell in love with the country and is eager to return, she says.
“I made some really good friends in India. It's hard to think that I can't go back right away — I hope to find time to go in a year or so.”
She has more research in mind for when she returns, including a look at the downside of the cash-crop scenario. The farmers in the village where she lived and worked are already identifying the problems.
For one, the families are now eating primarily rice, and their diet lacks the variety it had when each farmer grew vegetables and different millet grains. Another problem is the soil depletion caused by the continual growth of sweet cassava. Farmers are already seeing smaller yields from the heavily used fields. In addition, the single crop on so many farms makes it vulnerable to infestation. Case in point: the rapidly spreading fungus that has recently destroyed many plants.
“The farmers recognize that they will need to find some alternatives, some solutions to the problems,” says Finnis. “That's where I am now — I want to look at how people plan and strategize in this situation.”
Her interest in the lives of farmers also affects how she shops here in Guelph.
“I love to go to farmers' markets and buy local fruit and vegetables. I buy a lot in the summer and fall, then can and freeze them so I don't have to rely on produce from far away. I think it's important to support local farmers.”