The world’s most populous nation is more poorly endowed with farmland, per capita, than Greece or Algeria. That’s going to make life harder as a warming planet destabilizes the cycles of rain and sun that have kept it fed for millennia.
India recently suspended exports of nonbasmati varieties of rice after heavy monsoon rainfall damaged newly planted crops due to be harvested in winter. With rice retail prices up 3% in the past month and 11.5% over the past year, the government hopes to quell food inflation by reserving more grain for the domestic market.
It’s not the only crop that’s in crisis. Tomato prices have risen fivefold or more in recent months, prompting heists from stores, markets and trucks, and causing farmers to camp out in their fields to protect their produce from theft. One Twitter user said her sister brought 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of the fruit in her luggage during a visit from her home in Dubai. Once again, heavy rainfall in tomato-producing states has been the culprit.