Rajavelu NK is the CEO of Crop Protection Business at Godrej Agrovet, bringing over 25 years of strategic leadership in diverse roles. With a robust background in sales, strategic planning, and new product introduction, he excels in business development, brand management, and P&L responsibility.
He has driven profitable growth throughout his career, notably at Dow AgroSciences, where he led both domestic and international businesses. Passionate about mentoring and industry contributions, he enjoys global travel and fostering high-performing teams.
The article highlights how climate change is reshaping cotton cultivation in India, with delayed monsoons, erratic rainfall, and rising temperatures increasingly threatening productivity, particularly across the country's rain-fed cotton acreage. It also emphasizes that effective weed management has evolved beyond routine farm practice to become a key climate adaptation strategy, helping conserve moisture, improve nutrient efficiency, and support stable yields amid growing weather uncertainty.
India's cotton farmers are up against climate change in their mission to reverse declining yields, and building resilience is becoming critical to safeguarding productivity. The cotton crop is highly dependent on rainfall, with more than 65 percent of India's cotton acreage being rain-fed.
The challenge is particularly evident this Kharif season. Delayed and uneven monsoon progress across several cotton-growing regions has disrupted sowing schedules and increased uncertainty around crop establishment. Adding to these concerns are forecasts indicating the possibility of El Niño-related weather variability, raising the risk of uneven rainfall distribution and prolonged dry spells during critical stages of crop growth.
Yields, already under pressure, are being further impacted as erratic weather affects everything from sowing timelines and germination quality to root development. Farmers are feeling the heat. About 89 percent identified erratic rainfall and extreme heat as major challenges, while nearly two-thirds believe worsening rainfall variability has increased production uncertainty over the last three years.
Building resilience in cotton farming begins before the crisis, through informed sowing decisions, efficient water use, and soil systems that can withstand climatic shocks.
Changing weather patterns are leaving cotton crops increasingly vulnerable to weed infestation, pest attacks and water stress. According to the Cotton Voice of India Report 2025, one-third of surveyed farmers reported worsening weed attacks, while more than three-quarters cited water availability as a major challenge.
Weeds compete aggressively with cotton for water, nutrients and sunlight, leaving the crop weaker and more susceptible to pests. When rainfall becomes erratic, this competition intensifies. In seasons marked by delayed rains, moisture becomes a scarce and valuable resource, making efficient management of every available input even more important.
To put it simply, climate stress is no longer an occasional disruption. It is becoming a recurring feature of cotton cultivation, forcing farmers to adapt to increasingly unpredictable field conditions.
The answer does not lie in reacting to weather shocks after they occur. Building resilience requires a shift towards climate-aware farm management that helps farmers anticipate risks and make better decisions throughout the crop cycle.
That starts with weather-informed crop planning. In seasons where monsoon arrival is delayed or uneven, informed decisions on sowing windows can significantly improve crop establishment and reduce risk. It also means strengthening water-use efficiency through better irrigation practices and improving soil health to enhance moisture retention and support stronger root development.
These interventions help the crop withstand periods of heat stress and moisture shortage while improving overall productivity. Most importantly, they build resilience before climatic stress becomes visible in the field.
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Early-stage agronomic interventions play a decisive role in protecting productivity. Weed management, in particular, should be viewed through a broader lens than simply keeping fields clean.
As rainfall patterns become increasingly unpredictable, effective weed control becomes a powerful tool for conserving soil moisture, improving nutrient-use efficiency and helping cotton plants establish stronger growth. This becomes especially important during delayed-rainfall conditions, when weeds and crops are competing for limited moisture during the most vulnerable stages of establishment.
In that sense, weed management is no longer merely an operational necessity. It is an important climate adaptation measure that directly contributes to crop resilience. When integrated with sound water management, soil health practices and crop protection strategies, it helps create farming systems that can better absorb climatic shocks while sustaining yields.
Climate stress is steadily redefining the fundamentals of cotton cultivation. The question is no longer whether climate variability will affect cotton production, but how effectively farmers can prepare for and respond to it. India has long been one of the world's leading cotton producers. As this season's delayed rains have demonstrated, resilience is no longer a long-term aspiration; it is an immediate necessity for protecting farmer livelihoods and securing the future of Indian cotton.
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