Beyond the banks of the Tangri river in Haryana’s Ambala district, paddy fields stretch far, lush and green. But they hide a troubling truth. The soil here, once soft and porous, has hardened into what locals call daakar mitti – hard clay that is unable to absorb water or replenish groundwater.
“It no longer absorbs water, and the groundwater refuses to rise,” explained farmer Gurdas Singh, from Mohra village of Haryana’s Ambala district. But almost two decades ago, this region used to have retili mitti, he said – sandy, water-soaking soil that sustained their livelihoods.
The farms in this region were once rich with diverse vegetable crops – cauliflower, radish, carrots, brinjals, ladyfingers, among them. Now, they know only paddy and wheat.
This monocropping, scientists say, is further depleting the soil of its vitality.
“I own 16 acres of land, where we primarily grow kanak [wheat] and jeeri [paddy],” Singh said. “These crops have been cultivated on this land since 1988, a tradition started by my father that we continue to this day.”
For most farmers like Gurdas, especially after the Green Revolution in the 1960s, a key reason to favour the combination of rice and wheat was the stability and predictability of the income it provides. This is largely due to the Minimum Support Price at which the government guarantees that it will buy these grains.
Singh’s concerns about the changing texture of the soil on his farm are echoed by many farmers across Punjab and other states that are now growing less diverse crops – many of them which use a great deal of water.
Around the world, paddy, wheat, sugarcane, cotton and potato are considered to be the most water-intensive crops.
Interviews with over 30 farmers, researchers, scientists, and farmers as well as an analysis of the data shows that many states are experiencing soil degradation and groundwater depletion due to their excessive reliance on monocropping of water-intensive crops. This traps them in a vicious cycle of fertiliser dependence, deteriorating soil quality and decreasing crop yields.
Yet farmers who attempt to diversify their crops receive little government support and face financial instability. This situation, if left unaddressed, could threaten India’s food and water security, warn agricultural experts.
Over the past six months, this reporter conducted a data-driven investigation to uncover these challenges. This three-part series presents our findings in detail. This the second part of the three-part series and it focuses on the monocropping of water-intensive crops and its impact on the soil.
Crop diversification challenges
India accounts for more than one-fifth of the global production of rice, sugarcane and cotton, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. Many of the Indian states that are the largest producers of these crops are also grappling with water scarcity. Studies suggest that the Minimum Support Price and other subsidies may have led to a 30% overproduction of water-intensive crops.
For instance, Punjab, where farmers extensively cultivate paddy and wheat, draws five times water for irrigation than the national average.
Producing 1 kg of paddy alone needs 2,500 litres of water. According to a study conducted by Punjab Agriculture University from 1998 to 2018, the groundwater levels in Punjab have fallen 98 feet during that period.
“Earlier there was water at the surface and we did not have to dig very deep borewells,” said Lakhwinder Singh, 42, a farmer from Balbehra village of Punjab’s Patiala district. “Now we find water at 250 feet-300 feet deep. The cost of digging a borewell has also increased.”
Of his 11 acres of land, he uses 1.5 acres to grow desi gram and cow feed. This is used by his household. The rest of the farm is dedicated to paddy and wheat. Lakhwinder Singh largely depends on his tubewell for irrigation.
Across India, 60% of farms depend on groundwater for irrigation. The remaining 40% of irrigated land is canal-fed.
In 2017, the government’s National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development released a report on why water-intensive cropping was becoming more widespread. The report suggested optimising water usage through improved water management techniques like micro-irrigation, solar irrigation, etc, and adopting less water-intensive crops like legumes and millets.
Even in states with marginally higher levels of crop diversity, where the majority of total cultivable land holds at least six crops, a large proportion of land is still allocated to thirsty crops.
In India, the top three states with the highest area under water-intensive crops are Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Maharashtra – all of which have marginally higher crop diversity.
Experts say a large part of this is because both the state and Central governments’ incentives encourage monoculture. They emphasise that incentives such as subsidies and knowledge support must be shifted to supporting diverse agroecological practices such as mixed cropping and sustainable land use.
“Incentives should not be commodity-based for the processes,” said Soumik Banerjee, an ecological expert and researcher with the Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture.
Instead, he said, the health of the soil and ecosystem depends on adopting diverse agricultural practices, that include cultivating a variety of crops instead of relying on a single crop, practicing mixed cropping, covering the soil, and integrating livestock.
“These processes will lead to diversity.”
Soil health
Our data suggests that there is a direct linkage between crop diversity and soil health. Monocropping and water-intensive crops degrade soil quality by depleting nutrients, increasing salinity and reducing microbial diversity.
Among states with less crop diversity, Punjab and Haryana have the lowest levels of macronutrients and organic carbon and higher levels of soil salinity. In both states, nearly 50% of the districts face low levels of soil macronutrients and organic carbon, along with higher salinity and alkalinity.
Experts explain how the soil has ended up in such a poor state.
“Continuous monocropping can deplete the soil of a particular nutrient, leading to imbalances and poor soil health,” said Sagar Jadhav, a soil scientist and senior research officer at BAIF Development Research Foundation, a non-profit in Pune. “Adopting crop rotation helps maintain nutrient balance by varying the demands placed on the soil.”
Ecological expert Banerjee reiterated the direct linkage between crop diversity and soil health. The plants share exudates with the soil organisms, he said.
“So when you have diverse crops, you have diverse exudates,” Banerjee said. “And diverse exudates create diverse microbes which enrich the soil with nutrients.”
Yet crop diversity on its own will not be a solution for the groundwater woes of Indian farmers.
Even states with high crop diversity experience poor soil health if a large portion of their cultivable land holds water-intensive crops.
Among the seven Indian states showing marginally higher crop diversity than others, only two states – Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have good soil health, with above average levels of macro-nutrients and organic carbon and below-average salinity.
Experts attribute this to several factors. Explaining how water from external irrigation sources often brings unwanted substances such as salts and heavy metals, Jadhav said,
“Excessive salts or heavy metals in the soil can disrupt the availability of essential nutrients,” he said.
He added that too much water from growing water-intensive crops reduces the air in the soil, making it difficult for most soil organisms to survive. “Since these organisms need oxygen, their numbers decrease, allowing oxygen-free [anaerobic] organisms to take over, which can harm soil health,” he said.
Banerjee added that cultivating water-intensive crops degrades the soil because so much water is added, the air is reduced. Most of the soil organisms are aerobic organisms, so they can not survive properly. In such a situation, anaerobic organisms start dominating.
Despite this, experts say that a change in cropping or variety of crop being cultivated could help restore the lost nutrients in the soil.
“Even for these water-intensive crops, there are so many varieties which do not require as much water, for instance Durrham wheat and indigenous paddy,” Banerjee said.
He explained that crops develop symbiotic relationships with soil microbes, which are crucial for nutrient cycling. “Cereals often deplete nitrogen from the soil, but legumes can help restore it by fixing atmospheric nitrogen through their association with nitrogen-fixing bacteria,” said Banerjee.
He noted that by growing cereals and legumes together or in rotation, farmers can maintain a balance between nutrient absorption and replenishment, ensuring long-term soil fertility and productivity.
But many farmers are unaware of what exactly is undermining the quality of their soil and what they need to do to restore it.
The soil as they know
Even farmers who understand the need to test their soil face hurdles.
Daljeet Singh, a 39-year-old farmer from Shahpur village in Haryana’s Ambala district explained that one significant challenge was the lack of nearby soil-testing facilities, with the closest lab being at least 20 km away. He had his soil tested about 10 years ago, but despite making repeated requests, he never received the report.
“Without proper testing, how can we know what the soil needs or lacks?” he asked.
His joint family owns 30 acres of cultivable land. Today, they mainly grow paddy and wheat. Paddy dominates but occasionally, in the winter, in addition to wheat, they cultivate other crops too. For instance, this year, they planted potatoes on six acres, mustard on four and wheat on 20. But during the paddy season between June to November, that crop occupies the entire 30 acres.
Jadhav said that even when farmers have access to soil health cards, they often lack the knowledge to utilise them effectively. “These cards do not provide adequate guidance on the next steps, such as which crops to grow, the specific fertiliser requirements, or how to balance inputs with crop needs,” he said. “As a result, farmers frequently cultivate crops and apply fertilisers indiscriminately, even when not necessary.”
Gurdeep Singh, a farmer in Patiala district of Punjab, explained that while it is clear that the quality of the soil on his 5.5-acre farm is deteriorating because of the depleting groundwater and because he uses a great deal of fertiliser, he has few options.
“If we stop using fertilisers, our yields decrease significantly, affecting our income,” he said. “It’s a difficult cycle to break. As much as we want to care for the land, survival challenges leave us with no alternative. The problems aren’t isolated or simple. They’re part of a larger web of causes and consequences.”
In the final part of this series, we examine how the monocropping of water-intensive crops and the continuous use of fertilisers hurts yields.
This is the second of a three-part series. Read the first part here.
Reporting for this story was supported by the Environmental Data Journalism Academy, a programme of Internews’ Earth Journalism Network and Thibi.
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 fertilizer and pesticide use data available from the fertilizer statistics 2021-22. The author analyzed 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 analyzed for their soil health, fertilizer use, pesticide use, yields, and area under cultivation for water-intensive crops.
The analysis can be found here.
To validate the data and corroborate the findings, the author traveled to villages in Punjab and Haryana to meet the farmers and understand their ideas of crop diversification and their challenges.
The author also interviewed experts with backgrounds in agriculture and soil health to get their insights into explaining the interlinkage between crop diversity, water-intensive crops, and soil health.
