Struggling to cope with extreme heat, a farmer in Multan, in Pakistan’s Punjab province, returns home early to avoid the blazing sun in July this year. Agricultural workers are struggling to ensure reliable food production in Punjab and across Pakistan amid extreme weather. Jamaima Afridi
Politics
Farmers in Multan bear the brunt of extreme heat in a warming Punjab
In Multan, fierce heat and other effects of the climate crisis are hurting the health and livelihoods of agricultural workers, resulting in damaged crops, heat-related illnesses, and other adverse effects
Allah Wasaai, a 52-year-old farmer from Rangpur in Pakistan’s Punjab province, has experienced the perils of climate change personally. In 2022, she and her family were forced to abandon their house, located near the Chenab River in the city of Multan, after catastrophic floods destroyed everything they owned. Now they have relocated to Muzaffargarh, and when I spoke to them in July were dealing with excessive heat, an abrupt contrast to the monsoon rains they would usually expect at this time of the year.
“The weather patterns have changed severely,” Wasaai said. “Either we confront severe rains that drown our homes, or we suffer from a lack of rainfall, impacting our life and work. We never live a normal life.”