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Climate change has been a major topic of discussion sincethe UN climate summit, COP26, was held at Glasgow, UK.Moreover, the erratic nature of monsoon in India this year hasadded fuel to it.The nature of the southwest monsoon this year was quiteirregular. Some parts of India witnessed heavy rainfall in Junewhich was normal during the mid-rainy season. Then it all pausedto such an extent that it caused a countrywide rainfall deficit.Thereafter, when it was supposed to have withdrawn, heavyspells came back in most parts of Bengal thus destroying cropslike seasonal vegetables and paddy. The condition became worsewhen cyclone storm ‘Jawad’ hit Bengal in December. Though itdid not turn out to be severe, Odisha and West Bengal receivedhuge amounts of rainfall - destroying crops that were ready to beharvested. Rice and potato crops were the most destroyed.Research done on Indian climate and studies on climate modelsindicate that the main reason behind the uneven nature ofmonsoon is global warming. A German-based study was carriedout this year that said, “Monsoon rainfalls are likely to increaseby 5% with each degree of warming.”50% of India’s Gross Crop Area (GCA) - which covers nearly200 million hectares of land - still depends on monsoon rainsfor a smooth farming process. Uncertain weather conditionscan create havoc for Indian agriculture. Kharif cultivation startsfrom the end of May and continues till August. This year, therains were sufficient only in the month of June and graduallywent down in July and August. As a result, harvesting of cropslike rice and bajra got delayed. Though it rained heavily again inSeptember, it was only detrimental for agriculture as it damagedcrops that were nearly ready to be harvested and also madestorage difficult.This year has been difficult for the farmers of Bengal and also forthose whose livelihood depends on agriculture. After the averageyield in rice, jowar, bajra, maize during monsoon the farmers hada hope that high level of soil moisture will help better growingof Rabi and other winter crops. Unfortunately, the situation onlyturned worse with excessive winter rainfall. The heavy spell ofrains lashed out when wheat, rice and seasonal vegetables likecabbage, cauliflower and beetroot were about to be harvested.Lamenting on the loss, Laxminarayan Ta, a farmer from Burdwansaid, “The loss that we have incurred this year is unfulfillable.The crops that we sow is a form of Goddess Laxmi to us andseeing the damaged crops, I feel that the Goddess of Fortunehas left me.” He is primarily a rice cultivator and depends on theyearly yield for earning his livelihood.The southern parts of Bengal, consisting of districts likeBurdwan, Bankura and Hooghly saw major losses. These arepredominantly potato growing areas and the rainfall in Decembercaused a huge loss to the crop.Shaktipada Nandi, a potato cultivator from Hooghly’s Goghatnearly broke down while speaking about his loss. He said,“Potato cultivation is our main source of income throughout theyear and now we are looking at an immense loss. Nearly threeacres of our land, where potatoes were ready to be harvested, gotwater-logged and the entire crop got damaged.”Officials from the Burdwan district agricultural department hasconfirmed the loss and said that though the market has not yetseen any deficit, it will surely face shortage of potatoes in thecoming year. They also added that the farmers have to sow thecrop again - the cost of which is nearly unbearable for them.The state government has assured assistance to the farmersthrough compensation from crop insurance companies andthrough the Krishakbandhu scheme. According to governmentsources, district wise surveillance will be carried out to gatherinformation about the loss. Along with this, governmentauthorities have also warned about price rise of these crops inthe coming year.The loss incurred by farmers due to this unprecedented winterrainfall has brought them to the brink. Many of them werealready facing financial crisis and this seems to be the last nail.Shaktipada Nandi, the farmer from Goghat added, “It is moreabout the mental loss than the monetary amount. This cropdamage has hit us hard. We are uncertain about our future.”According to government sources, three farmers in Burdwanhave committed suicide due to incurred losses and it willneed more than lip service from the government to rescue thesituation.