Mulching: Using plastic or organic mulch helps retain soil moisture and keeps root temperatures cool.
Zaid farming occurs during the driest months of the year, making irrigation the single most important factor for success. zaid farming challenges india climate water soil
While the Zaid season offers a lucrative "bonus" income for Indian farmers, it is increasingly becoming a race against a warming planet. Addressing the trifecta of climate, water, and soil health is the only way to ensure this bridge season doesn't collapse. Mulching: Using plastic or organic mulch helps retain
That year, the money lender did not take his pots. And Fatima smiled when Zaid brought home a single pomegranate from the tree he’d planted near the kund —sweet, red, and impossibly alive. Addressing the trifecta of climate, water, and soil
Pollination Failure: Extreme heat can dry out pollen, leading to poor fruit sets in gourds and melons.
Historically, this has been the season of the "golden harvest"—watermelons ripening in the heat, cucumbers sprawling across sandy riverbeds, and green fodder sustaining livestock. It is a season that provides critical cash flow to farmers and nutritional security to the nation.
The old well, dug by his grandfather in 1982, now gave only a muddy trickle by March. Zaid used to grow two crops: cotton in the kharif (monsoon) and wheat in the rabi (winter). But the groundwater table had dropped so low that the electric pump now sucked air for half the day. His neighbor, old Ramesh Kaka, had sold his buffaloes and left for Pune to drive a rickshaw. “No water, no crop, Zaid,” he’d said. “The climate has changed its contract with us.”