Strategies for Gathering Evidence
A. Amarender Reddy · 2025
This chapter shows how we, a team of researchers, embarked on a journey to understand farmers’ struggles in India. Motivated by the devastation caused by climate change and the infestation of chilli crops, we desired to unravel the secrets behind farmers’ resilience. We conducted a household survey in 72 villages in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka. Armed with structured questionnaires, we roamed around villages, facing the challenge of convincing farmers about the survey’s purpose. Despite initial scepticism, we were able to gain trust and started capturing the stories of 1,440 farmers’ lives and revealing the hard truth they dealt with. Our team also planned to develop the Farmers Distress Index through these data at the end of our survey not just to identify farmers’ challenges but to understand their depth and form.