Indian farmers are already paying the price for climate change

Early summers, heatwaves, erratic monsoons and disease combine to shrink already slim pickings, forcing many farmers to migrate even more for work.

This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center.

On an afternoon in August, Amritlal Patel stood in the courtyard of his mud-and-stone house watching the rain pour. The roof of his house in Mayar village, Rajasthan, was barely held together by hundred-year-old wooden square columns rising from the ground. 

Amritlal looked relieved. The rain meant he might still have a chance to earn back the thousands of rupees he spent sowing his summer crops a month ago on his small farm. His soybean and maize were on the brink of death due to a lack of rainfall. The year had …