Farm Workers On How Heat Impacts Their Work

We spoke to agricultural workers from The Locavore’s community of partner producers to understand how heat intersects with labour, especially for working women, and how they cope with rising temperatures.

Scorching summer heat. Above-normal daytime and nighttime temperatures. Heatwaves that bring illnesses and deaths. These are the new normals in India as the climate crisis looms large, the months of April, May, and June becoming increasingly unbearable with every passing year.

Outdoor labourers, especially those working in sectors such as agriculture, animal husbandry, fishing, construction, and quarries and kilns, are at extreme risk from these rising temperatures.

We spoke to some of our #TLpartner producers for International Labour Day 2024 to understand how heat intersects with labour; the toll it takes on agricultural workers, especially women; and how they avoid some of its worst impacts.

This includes Wild Jai Farm based in Gujarat’s biodiverse Gir region; Aamra, which employs local women in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh; Umrani Farms, specialising in indigenous raisin production in Sangli, western Maharashtra; and Dongaon Local, an all-women micro-enterprise based near the Godavari river, straddling Aurangabad and Ahmednagar districts in Maharashtra.

“It is unbearable to step outside between 11 am and 4 pm”

Wild Jai Farm, which coexists with the flora and fauna of the Gir region in Gujarat, is home to seven varieties of indigenous mangoes, chikoos, and coconuts along with several forms of wildlife.

While the tree cover on their farm and nearby reserve forest offers respite from the excessive heat, they notice climate patterns moving more to the fringes. These shifts in the weather are causing more illnesses in people, along with distress in animals as well as trees and plants in the region.

Hamjuben, who works at Wild Jai, tells us that it is getting palpably hotter every year. “Our village has no more trees and there is barely any shade. It is unbearable to step outside between 11 am and 4 pm, so I prefer working here in the bageecha, where we are usually under the shade of trees,” she says.

The team adjusts its work hours depending on the nature of the labour involved—working with heavy materials or climbing trees to pick coconuts, is for earlier in the day. Matkas with water are placed around the farms, and water troughs are replenished with clean well water for both people and wildlife.

Jamanbhai says that they avoid eating green chillies and brinjal in summer, instead consuming cooling foods like tomatoes, red chillies, bottle gourds, and bitter gourds. “We eat kadi and khichdi more often, rather than bajra rotla and shaak.”

The heat of the chillies is magnified with the high temperatures

Aamra, based in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, sells heirloom pickles and chutneys made using traditional methods by local women. The loo—a hot and dry summer wind that blows over the plains of northern India can be brutal—Jaya, founder of Aamra, says.

Anita, who has been working with Aamra for the past 16 years, tells us that taking raw mangoes to the terrace and drying them out in the sun (for the dry mango pickle) is tough. But they do it in short spurts, so it is bearable.

While summertime is perfect for seasonal pickles like mango, the women need to be careful when working with dried red chillis, and use cloth masks to protect themselves—the heat of the chillies is magnified with the high temperatures.

The women at Aamra love their refreshments, like nimbu pani, shikanji, and sherbets, to beat the heat! And though fans were fine to work under, Aamra added an air-conditioner to their processing space a few years ago, where the women cut and peel the mangoes now.

“It is around 40 to 42 degrees Celsius in the afternoons. We just adapt to it”

Located in Sangli in western Maharashtra, Umrani Farms specialises in indigenous raisin production. One of the most drought-prone areas in the state, temperatures in the summer are routinely over 40 degrees Celsius here. During these months, women labourers at Umrani only work from 7 am to 2 pm, and spend the hotter hours indoors, shares Nina, founder of Umrani Farms.

For Mahadevi Moili, the heat isn’t something she actually thinks about. When the weather changes, she changes too. “It is around 40 to 42 degrees Celsius in the afternoons. We just adapt to it,” she tells us.

In the summer we eat more of jwari ambil, taak, and dahi, and try to avoid hot food, says Mahadevi. When the women work outdoors to tie new shoots of the grapes to their support, they always wear full-sleeved men’s shirts, and protect their heads with scarves or towels.

“In the peak afternoons, the winds are hot and harsh. But we need to work for a living”

Dongaon Local is an all-women micro-enterprise that primarily makes ghee. Dongaon, in Maharashtra, is part of a large onion-producing region, and several women who make ghee for Dongaon Local also harvest onions during the summer months. Heatstrokes, dehydration, and infections from lack of access to clean water and toilets is common among women labourers here, Neeraja Dhorde, founder of Dongaon Local tells us.

Kantabai, a labourer who has been working on the farms for the past 18 years, says that they are used to this heat now, though they feel exhausted and dehydrated all the time. “In the peak afternoons, the winds are hot and harsh. But we need to work for a living,” she says.

“We start early so we can end early,” Kantabai adds. And cold water, kadhi, chaas, or lassi help a lot to prevent dehydration. When it’s too hot, the workers are given an hour-long break. Sometimes, an afternoon nap helps them relax and get back to work.

Mukta Patil is Projects Editor at The Locavore. She works on stories that spotlight the intricacies of our food systems, and how they interact with the climate emergency, the environment, and people. She lives with her cat, Pooki, on the outskirts of Goa.

Know more about Wild Jai Farm, Aamra, Umrani Farms, Dongaon Local, and other partner producers here.

We would like to thank Mallika Chandra, Jahan Jhala, Hamjuben, Jamanbhai, Neeraja Dhorde, Kantabai, Jaya Bajaj, Anita, Nina Patil, and Mahadevi Moili for trusting us with their time, and sharing their experiences with us.