Rising climate stress is pushing disabled farmers to reshape agricultural practices
From modified tractors and tools to seed-saving and soil-care– farmer-led adaptations are helping disabled farmers manage farm work during climate stress, Hashim Quraishi writes from Kashmir
Farming cycles move on, whether bodies can or not.
Naserul Gaffar Sheikh, aged 30, knows this well. He farms paddy and vegetables on a small plot of land in Aarath village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Budgam district. The land was inherited from his father, and he continues to cultivate it despite a 60% locomotor disability in his left leg caused by the result of post‑polio residual paralysis.
Tasks most farmers perform without thinking, such as climbing on and off a tractor, walking repeatedly across waterlogged fields during irrigation, come at a physical cost. But the work does not pause and so Naserul has learned to adapt.
On his tractor, an extra metal step is welded beneath the driver’s seat, making it easier for him to climb up and down. Behind the tractor, a heavy iron leveller, known locally as a mudge, is fitted to spread irrigation water evenly across the fields.
Neither of the tools came from a factory. Both were built by a local welder after watching Naserul struggle.
“My leg used to slip,” he says. “Every time I climbed, it hurt. This step changed everything.”
Before the mudge was added, uneven water pooling forced Naserul to crisscross his fields several times during irrigation, which was an exhausting task with his weakened leg. Dragged across the soil, the leveller now breaks clods and distributes water in a single pass. This has nearly halved the irrigation cycles and saved three to four hours of labour during peak watering days.
The cost of installing the two modifications, between Rs 20,000 and Rs 30,000, including materials and labour, was hard for Naserul to bear alone. Farmers in the village pooled money to pay for it, recognising that it will make it easier for Naserul to continue working on his field.
Climate change and disability : A tormentous combination
In Aarath and across Budgam, farming has become more physically demanding as erratic rainfall, prolonged dry spells, and reduced snowfall have hardened soils and stretched irrigation cycles. Fields that once held moisture longer now require repeated passes to level water and prevent runoff, increasing the strain on bodies already pushed to their limits.
For Naserul, the adaptations he relies on are not innovations in the abstract but responses to necessity. They are small, local solutions that reduce labour and allow him to remain on the land as climate stress reshapes everyday farming.
“We don’t choose this land,” he says. “We inherit it. And then we learn how to live with it.”
For disabled farmers across Kashmir, learning to live with inherited land is an active, ongoing process. Though rarely visible in public narratives of agriculture, they form a significant part of rural life. The 2011 Census recorded more than 300,000 people with locomotor disabilities in Jammu and Kashmir, many of them living in farming households.
Like Naserul, these farmers often adapt quietly and locally, in the absence of formal agricultural support.
Institutions such as the Composite Regional Centre (CRC), Srinagar, and the Voluntary Medicare Society (VMS) have begun to bridge some of these gaps by providing prosthetics, mobility aids, and rehabilitation services.
Dr Ishtiyaq Ahmad Mir, a soil scientist at the Krishi Vigyan Kendra Srinagar explains that such low-cost adaptations align closely with climate-resilient farming because they directly respond to erratic rainfall and harsher seasons. Levelling tools like the mudge spread water evenly, reducing waste and repeated labour during dry spells.
By pooling money to build these tools, farmers share costs and risks, strengthening their collective ability to withstand climate shocks, he adds.
“Composting, levelling, mulching and efficient water use reduce repeated labour,” Dr Ishtiyaq says. “They improve soil moisture retention and reduce stress on farmers.”
Learning to live with the land
For some farmers, adaptation takes the form of reorganising time rather than tools.
In Sudergund village in Kupwara district, about 75 km northwest of Srinagar, Aijaz Ahmad Chopan farms two to three kanals (one kanal equals around 5,400 square feet) of paddy and a small vegetable plot inherited from his father, who died in 2018. Living with a 70% disability in his arm after losing his elbow to bone cancer, Aijaz manages the land alone.
“I can’t move fast,” he says. “So I plan for slowness.”
Tasks that might otherwise be completed in a single day are spread over two or three. Irrigation begins early in the morning, when cooler ground allows water to move more slowly. Harvesting is staggered, with neighbours stepping in for heavier loads. What might appear inefficient is, for Aijaz, a deliberate rhythm that allows him to remain on the land.
For others, mechanisation becomes a way to compensate for bodily instability.
In Kanhoma village in Budgam district, Gowhar relies on his tractor to navigate both his fields and his disability. He acquired a locomotor impairment in 2002 after an accident, and soon after his father fell ill, leaving him to manage the farm alone. His modified New Holland tractor, fitted with handcrafted metal studs for traction, has become essential. Where his prosthetic foot slips in marshy soil, the machine holds steady, allowing him to plough, sow and harvest without fear.
Across these cases, the logic is consistent: tools, time and processes are adjusted to reduce physical load in the absence of official support.
When adaptation reduces labour
In the absence of farming systems designed for limited mobility, disabled farmers across central Kashmir have adjusted practices that directly reduce labour, water use and physical strain. Research and field data suggest these responses are effective.
Studies in semi-arid regions show that composting and mulching can improve soil moisture retention by 15-20% compared to untreated plots, reducing the number of field visits required for irrigation. The Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology recommends both practices in its crop contingency plans to manage drought-like conditions caused by rainfall deficits.
Seed-saving practices further reduce labour risks. Traditional rice varieties such as Mushq Budji have demonstrated yield stability of 2.5 to 3 tonnes per hectare even under blast disease pressure, while hybrid yields decline. For farmers with limited mobility, fewer crop failures translate into fewer replanting cycles and less wasted labour.
Soil testing offers another measurable benefit. At the Krishi Vigyan Kendra Srinagar, farmers submit soil samples for analysis of pH, nutrient levels, organic matter and texture. The resulting soil health cards specify fertiliser type and quantity, enabling many farmers to reduce fertiliser use by 20-30%.
For disabled farmers, fewer fertiliser applications mean fewer trips to the field, less bending and lifting, and greater certainty that limited labour is being used efficiently. Avoiding even a single journey can conserve energy needed for irrigation or harvest.
These farmer‑led adaptations are hardly recorded or recognised. In practice, they solve immediate problems—saving labour, conserving water, and keeping disabled farmers on their land–areas which formal agricultural policy often overlook.
Filling the institutional gap
The CRC in Srinagar, is a government-run institution under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. Operating through national schemes such as the Assistance to Disabled Persons programme, and in partnership with Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India (ALIMCO), CRC identifies disabled individuals through outreach camps and direct registrations, conducts medical and social assessments, and distributes prosthetics, wheelchairs and mobility aids across districts in Kashmir.
Follow-up rehabilitation and guidance allow many disabled farmers and rural workers to remain active on their land.
Alongside this state-led model, the Voluntary Medicare Society (VMS), a Srinagar-based civil society organisation founded in 1993, provides complementary support. Working independently but in coordination with government departments, banks and universities, VMS assesses disabled individuals beyond medical criteria, factoring in social and economic conditions.
Funded through CSR partnerships, bank facilitation and small zakat (from personal donations) pools, it offers prosthetics, rehabilitation and livelihood support, often stepping in where formal agricultural policy falls short. In recent years, it has collaborated with SKUAST-Kashmir to explore agriculture-based livelihoods for disabled farmers.
For many farmers, this support is a lifeline. Abdul Rasheed Bhat, aged 52, from Kulgam, who lost vision in his right eye, says “CRC helped me in everything I needed. They guided me step by step and ensured I could continue working”.
Ruqaya Akbar, aged 35, from Kunzar in Baramulla district, who lives with 100% locomotor disability, says “CRC and ALIMCO supported me in every manner and at each step of life, mentally and materially, by providing wheelchairs and other essentials I needed most.”
She later went on to form a disability association in Baramulla, where she now serves as its president.
At a CRC outreach camp held in Srinagar in February 2024, more than 230 assistive devices were distributed to 140 beneficiaries, indicating the scale, yet also the limits, of current institutional outreach.
Where adaptation meets its limits
Farmer-devised modifications work because they are locally designed, low-cost, flexible and rooted in lived experience. A welder replaces an engineer. A compost pit replaces chemical fertiliser. A mudge replaces repeated labour.
But they are difficult to sustain or scale without support. Tool modifications are paid for out of pocket, placing them beyond the reach of many farmers. Local welders are not trained in ergonomics. Krishi Vigyan Kendras lack disability-specific outreach, and NGOs cannot cover every district.
As climate stress intensifies, even “efficient” systems demand more labour. Farmers recall that transplanting paddy once took two days per plot and erratic rainfall and drying canals now stretch the work to nearly a week.
Institutional support also has limits. Outreach camps run by the CRC cannot reach every district, while the VMS does not design agricultural tools. Awareness remains uneven, and without a formal registry, disabled farmers continue to sit outside policy imagination.
“This model works because the government, community and NGOs come together,” said Dr Bashir of VMS. “But awareness is still our biggest challenge.”
As evening settles over Budgam, Gowhar stands by his field: uneven, stubborn, still alive. “The land remembers us,” he says. “So we must remember it back.”
For disabled farmers in Kashmir, that remembering is practical rather than symbolic. It means reshaping soil, metal and time to fit bodies the system overlooks.
This story is published as part of the Hands of Transition initiative, which connects communities leading the transformation of food systems in India. Officially launched in 2025, Hands of Transition brings design, storytelling, and ground-up action together to ensure that the people most affected by climate and food insecurity are also the ones shaping the solutions, as both messengers and drivers of change.
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