India faces prolonged food inflation as weak monsoon threatens winter crops

Laborers fill sacks with soybeans at a grain market in the district of Jalna, in India's western state of Maharashtra, on Oct. 23. | REUTERS

Reuters

Nov 3, 2026

RAJEWADI, India – Indian farmer Amarsingh Gushinge wants to sow wheat and chickpeas in coming weeks to capitalize on attractive prices, but dwindling water supplies after below-average monsoon rains are preventing him from planting either crop.

Like Gushinge, millions of farmers, especially in southern and western India, are facing water shortages as they prepare to plant winter crops.

“There’s not enough moisture in the soil to sow the next crop, and no money left to do so either,” said Gushinge, 78, in the village of Rajewadi, about 400 kilometers east of Mumbai. The Jalna district around his village has received about 48% less rain than average this year, the local weather office has said.

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