Washed Away but Not Defeated: Resilience Amid Erratic Rains in Cooch Behar

 A Promising Season Disrupted

The land was tilled, fertilizers applied, and poly-mulch sheets laid in neat rows. Farmers in Cooch Behar had invested their money and labor, expecting a rewarding season. The chili seedlings were ready for transplanting, with growers hopeful of reaching the lucrative early-season market of late December and early January. Many had already transplanted, while others were preparing cucumber and brinjal seedlings that had taken weeks of care. Across the landscape, maturing paddy in low-lying fields stood alongside monsoon brinjal, marking the end of a typical kharif season.

Then, the skies opened.

Between 1–13 October 2025, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal received record-breaking rainfall — 251 mm in Cooch Behar and Alipurduar, and 305 mm in Jalpaiguri, according to the India Meteorological Department. Over 18,500 hectares of cultivable land were flooded in a matter of days. What should have been a period of retreating monsoon showers turned into a deluge, reflecting the growing trend of erratic and episodic rainfall under climate change.

“I have no memory of rain like this in Ashin (September–October),” a farmer said, recalling the devastation in disbelief.

Photo: A woman navigates a muddy path after floods in Chotto Atharokatha (Cooch Behar, Oct 2025)

When the Sky Changed

Historically, Cooch Behar receives its highest rainfall between June and September — 77–80% of the annual total. Post-monsoon showers between October and December usually bring only 150–200 mm of rain (Nandargi & Barman, 2018). The 2025 anomaly — nearly 270 mm in just 13 days — was unprecedented. These districts, lying in the floodplains of Himalayan rivers, are inherently flood-prone, yet the timing of this flood was particularly unusual.

In Chotto Atharokatha, a village near Gaddarpar east of Cooch Behar town, the floods hit hardest. The settlement, flanked by the Torsa River and its old tributaries, flooded swiftly when upstream waters surged. Villages across similar low-lying “char” areas faced comparable devastation, with floodwaters engulfing homes, fields, and stored farm inputs.

Crops, Hopes, and Losses

Farmers in the char regions of Cooch Behar follow distinct cropping systems, often skipping kharif paddy in favor of high-value cash crops like chili, cucumber, and brinjal. Their sandy soils, though unsuitable for paddy, are ideal for chili when supported with irrigation and mulching.

“We transplant chili in mid-October to catch the early market with better prices,” explained a farmer, standing beside a field where only mulch fragments remained visible.

Photo: Essential inputs ruined by the flood, compounding farmers’ economic setbacks.

The losses were severe. Farmers lost seeds, fertilizers, and mulching material — investments running into thousands of rupees. Only a few perennials, such as banana and jujube, withstood the inundation. Yet, in the aftermath, some farmers tilled their land again, re-sowing with salvaged inputs, capitalizing on the nutrient-rich silt the flood left behind — a small consolation amid widespread despair.

Photo: Stagnant floodwater remains in a farmer’s courtyard days after the flood subsided.

Lessons from an Unseasonal Flood

For the Rupantar project — which supports smallholders in transforming food systems through diversification — such events test the resilience of both communities and interventions. The chili-based diversification pathway in Cooch Behar, part of the “irrigation-constrained” category, suffered major setbacks. Entire demonstration plots were lost, interrupting not only production cycles but also farmer confidence and learning processes.

Photo: Rebuilding after loss - women recover mulch sheets and re-sow cucumber in flood-affected fields.

Yet, the experience also revealed resilience. Many farmers re-sowed chili and cucumber once floodwaters subsided, reused intact poly-mulch sheets, and resumed sowing as soon as feasible. These actions reflect deep local knowledge and adaptability — traits that the project seeks to strengthen through its approach to climate-resilient diversification.

Such episodes underscore the necessity of adaptive implementation: integrating flexible cropping calendars, contingency planning, and localized early-warning systems. They also emphasize that resilience is not only technological but social — embedded in farmers’ capacity to recover, reorganize, and persist despite environmental shocks.

Adapting to the New Normal

Floods and droughts are no longer opposite extremes — they coexist within the same season. The October floods in Cooch Behar remind us that predictability itself has become a casualty of climate change. For smallholder farmers, adaptation now means preparing for both deluge and deficit within the same agricultural year.

As the Rupantar project continues its work in irrigation-constrained systems, these lived experiences are invaluable. They reveal how climate variability interacts with local cropping systems, and how farmers’ ingenuity can inform future strategies for sustainable, resilient food systems across the Eastern Gangetic Plains.

Acknowledgement

This blog draws on field interactions with flood-affected farmers participating in the Rupantar project, to document on-the-ground experiences of climate variability in West Bengal’s Sub-Himalayan plains.

Reference

Jha, V. C., Bairagya, H., & Department of Geography,Visva-Bharati University. (2013). FLOOD AND FLOOD PLAINS OF WEST BENGAL, INDIA: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS. In Revista Eletrônica Geoaraguaia (pp. 01–10).

Manjunath, K. R., Kundu, N., & Panigrahy, S. (2006). Analysis of cropping pattern and crop rotation using multidate, multisensor, and multiscale remote sensing data: case study for the state of West Bengal, India. Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE, 6411, 64110O. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.693921

Nandargi, S., & Barman, D. (2018). Evaluation of climate change impact on rainfall variation in West Bengal. International Journal of Engineering and Technology (UAE), 7(4.10), 135–139. https://doi.org/10.14419/ijet.v7i4.10.20806

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