Behavioural, economic and social mechanisms underlying the association between chronic high temperatures and depressive symptoms among farmers and farm workers in India

Farmers are one of the most vulnerable communities to both heat exposure and depression. India, where nearly half of the workforce is engaged in agriculture, is no exception. Extreme heat can reduce crop yields, lower cultivation incomes and potentially increase risk of depression. Whilst studies to date have focused almost solely on this yield-income pathway, agricultural household income is increasingly diversifying away from cultivation. We therefore need to explore other causal pathways. The overarching aim of our project is to determine the relative importance—based on both farmers’ perceptions and quantitative data—of different causal pathways between heat and depression among farmers in India, and to translate these findings into scalable solutions. The project will be based in the dryland regions of three states: Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka. WP1 involves participatory learning activities to understand how farmers conceive of the impact of heat on depression. WP2 involves causal mediation analysis using longitudinal data from an ongoing study in Andhra Pradesh—including PHQ-9—supplemented with weather data. In WP3, we will co-develop a heat-informed depression intervention programme, targeting causal pathways identified in WPs 1 and 2. WP4 will pilot this programme in a two-arm parallel cluster randomised pilot trial.