In Simbroh village of Punjab’s Patiala district, 70-year-old Gurjant Singh appeared out over his five-acre farm with a mixture of delight and resignation. When he started farming in 1978, he cultivated a wide range of crops – bajra, greens, cotton and pulses. However for the reason that late Nineteen Eighties, he has been narrowing his focus.

Due to authorities worth help for choose crops, the upper market dangers related to various crops and an try to extend manufacturing, Singh has been primarily rising rice and wheat.

This type of monocropping, typically attributed to the Inexperienced Revolution – launched within the Sixties, which reworked India’s agricultural panorama by introducing high-yielding seed varieties, chemical fertilisers and superior irrigation strategies – will not be particular to only Simbroh or Punjab. It has been adopted by farmers in most Indian states.

However consultants warn that monocropping – cultivating a single crop on the identical discipline 12 months after 12 months, typically in an outlined row sample – leaves farmers uncovered to market and local weather fluctuations. As well as, research have proven that monocropping depletes soil vitamins and will increase vulnerability to pests and illnesses.

Over the previous six months, this reporter, as part of the Environmental Information Journalism Academy fellowship, performed a data-driven investigation into the influence of monoculture on farmers and soil. This three-part collection presents our findings intimately. The primary a part of the collection considers the elements that drive and maintain monocropping practices.

The monocropping sample

India has embraced this monocropping system on a big scale, our evaluation exhibits.

In practically 80% of India’s states, simply 5 or fewer crops have dominated nearly all of farmland during the last decade.

In most states, rice or wheat occupy the most important share of the cultivated space. Each are extremely water-intensive.

In seven states, greater than 90% of the cultivable land has simply 5 or fewer crops being grown on it.

Punjab leads the pack, with 98% of its land getting used for wheat, rice, cotton, maize and sugarcane.

This lack of variety has undermined soil well being and resulted in an elevated use of fertilisers and pesticides, our knowledge suggests.

Over time, the authorities have pushed for crop diversification, particularly in Punjab and Haryana, states that have been the main target of the Inexperienced Revolution.

As well as, the Nationwide Mission on Pure Farming has aimed to get farmers to extend the number of crops they domesticate. However farmers have failed to take action – regardless of the advantages this observe may supply.

A number of research present that crop diversification helps preserve soil well being and sustainability, cut back pest assaults and enhance the standard and number of meals for people and livestock. On high of this, it will increase farmers’ earnings.

However monoculture persists as a result of it’s sustained by authorities coverage, mentioned Ramanjaneyulu GV, the chief director of the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture.

“Round 60%-70% of the federal government’s incentives are targeting just a few crops like paddy, wheat, and cotton, making a cycle the place extra applied sciences, sources and help methods are developed particularly for these crops,” he mentioned.

As a consequence, “farmers gravitate towards cultivating them, because the incentives for inputs, information, practices, and assured market outputs are overwhelmingly fastened for these choose crops”.

Among the many foremost incentives is the Minimal Help Value at which the federal government buys crops from farmers. It’s meant to behave as a security web for farmers, with the federal government immediately shopping for a crop from them if the market worth falls under the value it has set.

The Centre fixes a minimal help worth for 23 agricultural commodities grown within the kharif and rabi seasons. Nonetheless, in observe, it constantly buys solely rice and wheat for its meals safety schemes, implicitly encouraging farmers to develop primarily these crops.

Ramanjaneyulu defined that this monoculture-centric strategy poses important dangers to sustainable agriculture. “By prioritising rice and wheat, the system discourages diversification, leaving farmers weak to market fluctuations, pests, and climate-induced challenges,” he mentioned. “Furthermore, it undermines soil well being, depletes water sources, and reduces the resilience of farms.”

A failed try?

Although a number of official schemes have promoted diversification over time by encouraging the cultivation of crops equivalent to oilseeds and pulses, these makes an attempt have largely been in useless.

Gurjant Singh’s stab at diversification in Punjab’s Simbroh in 2004 illustrates among the challenges inherent within the push. Spurred by the native administration’s push for crop diversification, he had planted moong dal in his five-acre fields. His bills per acre, together with the price of manure, fertilisers, and seeds, was roughly Rs 2,500.

However since no machines have been out there for harvesting inexperienced moong, the duty required handbook labour. The employees didn’t get a wage however agreed to a 70-30 share of the harvest. Nonetheless, they later demanded a 50-50 break up due to the labour-intensive nature of the work.

“This was not viable for me,” mentioned Gurjant Singh.

Struggling to fulfill these calls for, Gurjant Singh managed to have solely two acres harvested earlier than the labourers left for extra profitable wheat fields.

The remaining three acres stood unpicked for weeks, leaving Singh no selection however to destroy the crop. “It felt like dropping one thing valuable – like taking the lifetime of an 18-year-old son I had nurtured,” he recalled.

Gurjant Singh’s try at diversification and subsequent failures will not be an remoted occasion.

Gurdeep Singh, 65, from Balbehra village of the identical district, had an identical expertise. For many years, he primarily cultivated paddy and wheat on his 5.5-acre plot. However between 2017 and 2022, he determined to plant potatoes on 4 acres.

He spent Rs 20,000 per acre on seeds and Rs 5,000 per acre on fertilisers. Nonetheless, when he tried to promote the produce, the market costs had dropped considerably, going as little as Rs 2 per kg.

“The typical yield on my farm was round 300 quintals. Nonetheless, I may promote solely about 250 quintals, incomes roughly Rs 60,000. This quantity wasn’t sufficient to get well my funding. A good portion of my produce went to waste as I waited for costs to enhance, however they by no means did,” he mentioned.

Gurdeep Singh was compelled to take loans of Rs 3 lakh for 2 consecutive years in 2020 and 2021, accumulating to Rs 10 lakhs with curiosity.

To repay the debt, he needed to promote a portion of his land for Rs 15 lakh.

“Think about shopping for a packet of potato wafers for Rs 10 however promoting 5 kg of potatoes for a similar worth,” Gurdeep Singh mentioned. “How are we speculated to maintain ourselves with such charges?”

He added: “The monetary burden and the unsustainable agricultural circumstances have been devastating, forcing me to make robust selections simply to outlive.”

The dearth of incentives for different crops has compelled farmers to return to crops with assured Minimal Help Value – sustaining monocropping.

“There’s an pressing have to shift the main target of incentives from merely procurement to a extra holistic strategy that features enter and output help,” mentioned Ramanjaneyulu.

He emphasised the significance of supporting farmers not simply with procurement ensures but in addition entry to raised seeds, irrigation methods, in addition to coaching in sustainable farming practices.

“Solely via complete help can we carry a couple of significant change in farmers’ practices and promote agricultural diversification,” he mentioned.

❈ ❈ ❈

Half II:

Thirsty Crops, Drained Soil: Vicious Loop Threatens India’s Meals and Water Safety

Past the banks of the Tangri river in Haryana’s Ambala district, paddy fields stretch far, lush and inexperienced. However they conceal a troubling reality. The soil right here, as soon as delicate and porous, has hardened into what locals name daakar mitti – exhausting clay that’s unable to soak up water or replenish groundwater.

“It now not absorbs water, and the groundwater refuses to rise,” defined farmer Gurdas Singh, from Mohra village of Haryana’s Ambala district. However virtually twenty years in the past, this area used to have retili mitti, he mentioned – sandy, water-soaking soil that sustained their livelihoods.

The farms on this area have been as soon as wealthy with various vegetable crops – cauliflower, radish, carrots, brinjals, ladyfingers, amongst them. Now, they know solely paddy and wheat.

This monocropping, scientists say, is additional depleting the soil of its vitality.

“I personal 16 acres of land, the place we primarily develop kanak [wheat] and jeeri [paddy],” Singh mentioned. “These crops have been cultivated on this land since 1988, a convention began by my father that we proceed to at the present time.”

For many farmers like Gurdas, particularly after the Inexperienced Revolution within the Sixties, a key motive to favour the mixture of rice and wheat was the steadiness and predictability of the earnings it supplies. That is largely as a result of Minimal Help Value at which the federal government ensures that it’ll purchase these grains.

Singh’s considerations in regards to the altering texture of the soil on his farm are echoed by many farmers throughout Punjab and different states that at the moment are rising much less various crops – lots of them which use quite a lot of water.

Around the globe, paddy, wheat, sugarcane, cotton and potato are thought-about to be essentially the most water-intensive crops.

Interviews with over 30 farmers, researchers, scientists, and farmers in addition to an evaluation of the info exhibits that many states are experiencing soil degradation and groundwater depletion resulting from their extreme reliance on monocropping of water-intensive crops. This traps them in a vicious cycle of fertiliser dependence, deteriorating soil high quality and reducing crop yields.

But farmers who try and diversify their crops obtain little authorities help and face monetary instability. This example, if left unaddressed, may threaten India’s meals and water safety, warn agricultural consultants.

Over the previous six months, this reporter performed a data-driven investigation to uncover these challenges. This three-part collection presents our findings intimately. This the second a part of the three-part collection and it focuses on the monocropping of water-intensive crops and its influence on the soil.

Crop diversification challenges

India accounts for greater than one-fifth of the worldwide manufacturing of rice, sugarcane and cotton, in keeping with the US Division of Agriculture. Most of the Indian states which can be the most important producers of those crops are additionally grappling with water shortage. Research recommend that the Minimal Help Value and different subsidies could have led to a 30% overproduction of water-intensive crops.

As an example, Punjab, the place farmers extensively domesticate paddy and wheat, attracts 5 instances water for irrigation than the nationwide common.

Producing 1 kg of paddy alone wants 2,500 litres of water. Based on a examine performed by Punjab Agriculture College from 1998 to 2018, the groundwater ranges in Punjab have fallen 98 ft throughout that interval.

“Earlier there was water on the floor and we didn’t must dig very deep borewells,” mentioned Lakhwinder Singh, 42, a farmer from Balbehra village of Punjab’s Patiala district. “Now we discover water at 250 feet-300 ft deep. The price of digging a borewell has additionally elevated.”

Of his 11 acres of land, he makes use of 1.5 acres to develop desi gram and cow feed. That is utilized by his family. The remainder of the farm is devoted to paddy and wheat. Lakhwinder Singh largely will depend on his tubewell for irrigation.

Throughout India, 60% of farms rely upon groundwater for irrigation. The remaining 40% of irrigated land is canal-fed.

In 2017, the federal government’s Nationwide Financial institution for Agriculture and Rural Growth launched a report on why water-intensive cropping was turning into extra widespread. The report recommended optimising water utilization via improved water administration methods like micro-irrigation, photo voltaic irrigation, and many others, and adopting much less water-intensive crops like legumes and millets.

Even in states with marginally increased ranges of crop variety, the place nearly all of complete cultivable land holds at the least six crops, a big proportion of land continues to be allotted to thirsty crops.

In India, the highest three states with the very best space beneath water-intensive crops are Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Maharashtra – all of which have marginally increased crop variety.

Specialists say a big a part of it is because each the state and Central governments’ incentives encourage monoculture. They emphasise that incentives equivalent to subsidies and information help should be shifted to supporting various agroecological practices equivalent to combined cropping and sustainable land use.

“Incentives shouldn’t be commodity-based for the processes,” mentioned Soumik Banerjee, an ecological professional and researcher with the Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture.

As a substitute, he mentioned, the well being of the soil and ecosystem will depend on adopting various agricultural practices, that embody cultivating a wide range of crops as a substitute of counting on a single crop, working towards combined cropping, overlaying the soil, and integrating livestock.

“These processes will result in variety.”

Soil well being

Our knowledge suggests that there’s a direct linkage between crop variety and soil well being. Monocropping and water-intensive crops degrade soil high quality by depleting vitamins, rising salinity and decreasing microbial variety.

Amongst states with much less crop variety, Punjab and Haryana have the bottom ranges of macronutrients and natural carbon and better ranges of soil salinity. In each states, practically 50% of the districts face low ranges of soil macronutrients and natural carbon, together with increased salinity and alkalinity.

Specialists clarify how the soil has ended up in such a poor state.

“Steady monocropping can deplete the soil of a specific nutrient, resulting in imbalances and poor soil well being,” mentioned Sagar Jadhav, a soil scientist and senior analysis officer at BAIF Growth Analysis Basis, a non-profit in Pune. “Adopting crop rotation helps preserve nutrient steadiness by various the calls for positioned on the soil.”

Ecological professional Banerjee reiterated the direct linkage between crop variety and soil well being. The crops share exudates with the soil organisms, he mentioned.

“So when you’ve various crops, you’ve various exudates,” Banerjee mentioned. “And various exudates create various microbes which enrich the soil with vitamins.”

But crop variety by itself is not going to be an answer for the groundwater woes of Indian farmers.

Even states with excessive crop variety expertise poor soil well being if a big portion of their cultivable land holds water-intensive crops.

Among the many seven Indian states exhibiting marginally increased crop variety than others, solely two states – Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have good soil well being, with above common ranges of macro-nutrients and natural carbon and below-average salinity.

Specialists attribute this to a number of elements. Explaining how water from exterior irrigation sources typically brings undesirable substances equivalent to salts and heavy metals, Jadhav mentioned,

“Extreme salts or heavy metals within the soil can disrupt the supply of important vitamins,” he mentioned.

He added that an excessive amount of water from rising water-intensive crops reduces the air within the soil, making it troublesome for many soil organisms to outlive. “Since these organisms want oxygen, their numbers lower, permitting oxygen-free [anaerobic] organisms to take over, which may hurt soil well being,” he mentioned.

Banerjee added that cultivating water-intensive crops degrades the soil as a result of a lot water is added, the air is diminished. A lot of the soil organisms are cardio organisms, to allow them to not survive correctly. In such a scenario, anaerobic organisms begin dominating.

Regardless of this, consultants say {that a} change in cropping or number of crop being cultivated may assist restore the misplaced vitamins within the soil.

“Even for these water-intensive crops, there are such a lot of varieties which don’t require as a lot water, for example Durrham wheat and indigenous paddy,” Banerjee mentioned.

He defined that crops develop symbiotic relationships with soil microbes, that are essential for nutrient biking. “Cereals typically deplete nitrogen from the soil, however legumes might help restore it by fixing atmospheric nitrogen via their affiliation with nitrogen-fixing micro organism,” mentioned Banerjee.

He famous that by rising cereals and legumes collectively or in rotation, farmers can preserve a steadiness between nutrient absorption and replenishment, guaranteeing long-term soil fertility and productiveness.

However many farmers are unaware of what precisely is undermining the standard of their soil and what they should do to revive it.

The soil as they know

Even farmers who perceive the necessity to take a look at their soil face hurdles.

Daljeet Singh, a 39-year-old farmer from Shahpur village in Haryana’s Ambala district defined that one important problem was the dearth of close by soil-testing services, with the closest lab being at the least 20 km away. He had his soil examined about 10 years in the past, however regardless of making repeated requests, he by no means obtained the report.

“With out correct testing, how can we all know what the soil wants or lacks?” he requested.

His joint household owns 30 acres of cultivable land. At this time, they primarily develop paddy and wheat. Paddy dominates however sometimes, within the winter, along with wheat, they domesticate different crops too. As an example, this 12 months, they planted potatoes on six acres, mustard on 4 and wheat on 20. However through the paddy season between June to November, that crop occupies the complete 30 acres.

Jadhav mentioned that even when farmers have entry to soil well being playing cards, they typically lack the information to utilise them successfully. “These playing cards don’t present sufficient steering on the subsequent steps, equivalent to which crops to develop, the precise fertiliser necessities, or steadiness inputs with crop wants,” he mentioned. “In consequence, farmers incessantly domesticate crops and apply fertilisers indiscriminately, even when not mandatory.”

Gurdeep Singh, a farmer in Patiala district of Punjab, defined that whereas it’s clear that the standard of the soil on his 5.5-acre farm is deteriorating due to the depleting groundwater and since he makes use of quite a lot of fertiliser, he has few choices.

“If we cease utilizing fertilisers, our yields lower considerably, affecting our earnings,” he mentioned. “It’s a troublesome cycle to interrupt. As a lot as we need to look after the land, survival challenges depart us with no various. The issues aren’t remoted or easy. They’re half of a bigger internet of causes and penalties.”

❈ ❈ ❈

Half III:

The Fertiliser Habit of Indian Farming is a Disaster

Underneath the delicate winter solar, Gurdeep Singh ran a handful of soil via his fingers, watching it crumble all too simply. The 65-year-old farmer from Balbehra village in Punjab’s Patiala district had seen the earth on his five-acre farm change over the many years – from fertile and self-sustaining to now being depending on chemical substances for survival.

“Individuals discuss Punjab’s youth getting hooked on medication, however nobody mentions how our soil has grow to be hooked on chemical substances and fertilisers,” he mentioned, looking on the younger wheat sprouting throughout his plot. Rising prices and declining yields, he defined, have been signs of this deep-rooted disaster.

As soon as the poster little one for the Inexperienced Revolution within the Sixties that resulted in an elevated manufacturing of grains from 50 million tonnes to over 300 million tonnes in practically 5 many years, Punjab faces a silent disaster – soil depending on fertilisers, pests immune to chemical substances and declining crop yields regardless of rising enter prices.

The issue will not be distinctive to Punjab. Most Indian states face the identical drawback. This disaster alerts a grim future for the nation’s agriculture sector, threatening the sustainability of Indian agriculture and imperilling its entry to protected and wholesome meals.

The ultimate a part of the three-part collection on monoculture of water-intensive crops, and its impacts explores the bottom realities of fertiliser use, the struggles of India’s farmers and considers the recommendation of consultants for why reform is urgently wanted.

Cropping variety, fertiliser use

As monoculture dominates India’s farm sector, the overuse of fertilisers and pesticides has taken a toll on soil well being, groundwater reserves and rural livelihoods.

Our evaluation discovered direct hyperlinks between monocropping and fertiliser use. Among the many high 10 Indian states that devour essentially the most fertiliser, six primarily domesticate simply 5 crops on over 90% of the land.

Punjab ranks second in fertiliser consumption, whereas Haryana ranks fifth.

Ecological professional Soumik Banerjee defined this hyperlink. “Monoculture results in elevated fertiliser use as a result of every crop sort absorbs sure vitamins in giant quantities,” he mentioned. “When the identical crop is grown season after season, these vitamins are quickly exhausted, requiring synthetic fertilisers to revive them.”

However when farmers plant various crops, the “completely different crops replenish and steadiness soil vitamins”, he added.

Nonetheless, even with states that present better crop variety, a little bit over half of them use extra fertiliser than the nationwide common. This elevated fertiliser utilization is impacted by the cultivation of water-intensive crops regardless of crop variety, which additionally require extra fertilisers than crops that use much less water.

States that domesticate a extra various vary of crops additionally are likely to allocate a bigger proportion of their agricultural land to water-intensive crops. In India, the highest three states with the very best space beneath water-intensive crops are Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Maharashtra – all of that are identified for his or her excessive crop variety.

Among the many crops grown in India, sugarcane consumes essentially the most fertiliser, adopted by potato, cotton, wheat and paddy, all of that are water-intensive crops.

Banerjee mentioned that water-intensive crops use extra fertilisers as a result of they’re typically cultivated as monocrops. This depletes soil vitamins quickly.

Even in states with various agriculture, giant parts of farmland are devoted to those crops. “This dominance results in increased fertiliser use to replenish misplaced vitamins and maintain yields,” Banerjee defined.

Specialists emphasise the necessity for systemic reforms to cut back the reliance on fertilisers and pesticides and to encourage crop diversification and together with various crops like legumes, that are pure nitrogen fixers. The overuse of chemical fertilisers poses important environmental challenges each in India and globally.

Research have proven that solely 46% of utilized nitrogen fertilisers are absorbed by crops – the rest is washed away into water our bodies. This causes the expansion of algae, which depletes oxygen ranges and harms aquatic life.

A number of research point out that just about two-thirds of nitrogen and greater than half of phosphorus utilized as fertilisers grow to be environmental pollution.

The fertiliser-yield loop

Talking with farmers in rural Punjab and Haryana, we discovered that they strongly imagine fertilisers are important to sustaining their yields and sustaining their incomes.

“Over time, my use of fertilisers has risen dramatically, from six quintals to twenty quintals yearly,” mentioned Gurdeep Singh in Balbehra. “Quite a bit has modified within the final twenty years. Earlier, we didn’t depend on fertilisers and nonetheless cultivated efficiently.”

However after the Inexperienced Revolution, he mentioned, fertilisers turned indispensable. “If we cut back the amount, the yields drop considerably,” he mentioned. “With groundwater ranges depleting and soil high quality worsening, we have now no selection however to maintain utilizing these chemical substances.”

This sample has led to elevated enter prices, diminished yields and decrease pest resistance.

Jarnail Singh, a 70-year-old farmer from the identical village, mentioned that fertiliser consumption has elevated over time on the three-acre farm on which he grows solely paddy and wheat.

“Earlier, a 50 kg bag of urea or DAP [diammonium phosphate] was sufficient for one acre, however now, I would like three 45 kg baggage, every costing Rs 450, only for paddy,” he mentioned.

He added that wheat cultivation is dealing with better challenges with a proliferation of pests and weeds. “Earlier, one spray was enough,” he mentioned. “However now, pests have grow to be extra resistant, making at the least two sprays mandatory.”

The rising want for weedicides and pesticides has added to farmers’ prices.

Dropping soil and yield

Specialists be aware that overusing fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides harms the microbial inhabitants within the soil. This disrupts the nutrient cycle and additional diminishes soil fertility.

Ecology professional Banerjee defined that fertiliser raises the nitrate content material in crops, making them extra weak to pest assaults. He famous that “nitrate is an excellent meals for bugs”, which have easy digestive methods.

“In contrast to complicated molecules equivalent to amino acids and proteins, that are more durable to digest, pests choose crops with extra nitrogen, particularly these grown in monoculture,” he mentioned.

Specialists additionally emphasise that decreasing fertiliser use will be successfully achieved via better crop variety. As an example, cultivating pulse crops can naturally repair round 60 kg of nitrogen within the soil, equal to the quantity of nitrogen supplied by three baggage of urea.

Ramanjaneyulu GV, the chief director of the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, an impartial analysis organisation, defined how diversifying into completely different nonwater-intensive crops may assist cut back this reliance. The federal government spends Rs 2,800 to subsidise every bag of urea – which works out to Rs 7,000 for 3 baggage, he mentioned.

That implies that the nation spends the identical sum of money to import each urea and pulses.

“If pulse manufacturing is subsidised in states like Punjab and Haryana, it may deal with each points – decreasing the dependence on imports and fertiliser use,” he mentioned.

Within the 2025-’26 finances, Rs 1.7 lakh crore has been allotted in direction of fertiliser subsidies, together with GST exemptions to additional decrease prices.

Nonetheless, consultants say that whereas this subsidy-driven worth advantages farmers within the quick time period, it results in fertilisers being overused.

“Many farmers apply greater than the required quantity of fertiliser, believing it would improve crop yields,” Ramanjaneyulu GV mentioned. However this depletes soil well being and will increase the long-term dependency on chemical fertilisers, affecting agricultural sustainability.

Nonetheless, farmers imagine that if they’re to extend their yields, it’s important for them to extend their use of fertilisers too.

“Yields have remained regular over time, however solely as a result of fertiliser use has elevated considerably,” asserted Daljeet Singh, a farmer from Shahpur village in Haryana. “If we have been to cut back fertilisers or domesticate naturally, there’s a excessive danger that crops wouldn’t develop.”

Daljeet Singh checks his potato plantation. Whereas most of his farmland is occupied by paddy and wheat, he allocates just a few acres to potato with wheat plantation. Credit score: Aishwarya Mohanty.

However regardless of the elevated use of fertilisers, states have reported decrease yields. As per our knowledge, 9 out of 10 states cultivating much less various crops have reported yields lower than the nationwide common.

States that domesticate much less various crops have seen a 20% drop in yields within the final ten years. Haryana leads with a 88.95 % decline. In Punjab, the determine is 14.51%.

Nonetheless, states with excessive crop variety with comparatively higher soil well being have proven a better common annual yield than the nationwide common. During the last 10 years, Andhra Pradesh ranks second whereas Karnataka ranks eighth by way of annual yields.

Ramanjaneyulu mentioned that although farmers imagine that fertilisers have gotten much less efficient, the true drawback lies in declining soil productiveness.

“The soil is dropping its vitamins,” he mentioned.

He highlighted the alarming charge of soil degradation. “Yearly, 16 tonnes of topsoil are misplaced per hectare, and it takes practically 200 years to regenerate,” he mentioned. “In 10 years you’ll lose one inch of soil so you’re dropping fertile soil quickly and this has diminished yields over time.”

[Methodology : The author conducted data analysis and interviews to produce this report. The data sets used for the study were data on the area, production, and yield of various crops, state-wise for 2013-2023, soil health data available for 2023-’24, and fertiliser and pesticide use data available from the fertiliser statistics 2021-22. The author analysed the area under cultivation for each state and identified states with low crop diversity as the ones cultivating five of less than five crops in more than 75% of their total area under cultivation. These states were then analysed for their soil health, fertiliser use, pesticide use, yields, and area under cultivation for water-intensive crops.

Aishwarya Mohanty is an independent journalist based in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. She writes on gender, rural issues, social justice and environment. Previously, she worked with the Indian Express. Courtesy: Scroll.in, an Indian digital news publication, whose English edition is edited by Naresh Fernandes.]