SUICIDE BY FARMERS

BY – SIMRANJIT SINGH

WHO IS A FARMER?

A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials.

A farmer might own the farmed land or might work as a labourer on land owned by others. In advanced economies, a farmer is usually a farm owner, while employees of the farm are known as farm workers, or farmhands.

WHAT IS SUICIDEThe word Suicide originates from Latin word ‘suicidium’, which means ‘to kill oneself’.Suicide is ending of one’s life by a person dependent on farming as their primary source of livelihood. This may be due to personal issues, family problems, monsoon failure, government policies, high debt burdens, etc.

STATISTICS

Uttar Pradesh

Kerala

Madhya Pradesh

Karnataka

Andhra Pradesh

Maharashtra

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000

Total Farmer Suicides In 2012

Total Farmer Suicides

STATISTICS

The National Crime Records Bureau of India reported in its 2012 annual report that 135,445 people committed suicide in India, of which 13,754 were farmers (11.2%). Farmer suicides rates in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh - two large states of India by size and population - have been about 10 times lower than Maharashtra and Kerala.

History

In the 1990s India woke up to an era of farmer suicides. The first state where suicides were reported was

Maharashtra. Soon newspapers began to report similar occurrences from Andhra Pradesh.

In the beginning it was believed that most of the suicides were happening among the cotton growers, especially those from Vidarbha.

The figures by the State Crime Records Bureau indicated that it was not just the cotton farmer but farmers as a professional category were suffering.

Vidarbha, State of Maharashtra • Home to 3.2 million cotton farmers.• Over 200 suicides from July 2005 to February

2006 • In this state alone there were almost 2 suicides a day in this 8 month period.

The number of famers committing suicide is staggering

More than 100,000 farmers have taken their lives since 1997.

86.5 percent of farmers who took their own lives were financially indebted.

Their average debt was about Rs. 50000. On average, there has been one farmer’s suicide

every 32 minutes since 2002.

Why are Farmers Suicide Rate So High?

While the prices of crops have been pushed down even below the cost of production but the prices of inputs such as seed, fertilizers and pesticides have gone up.

With limited resources, farmers depend on borrowed money to purchase seeds and other inputs and to farm their land. A drop in their farm income could quickly lead to farmers to suicide.

TO BE CONTD.

ReasonsCROP FAILURE - Crop failure is another main reason for farmers to commit suicide. Following are the various reasons of crop failure:-

Single crop a year. Cotton, the dominant crop. Improper irrigation. Regular rise in cost of input, lowered margin of profit. Maximum use of chemicals and pesticides.

TO BE CONTD.

Highly Dependence On Monsoon

Disruption in regular rainfall cycle since 2001. Long dry spells, less monsoon. 93% of area under dry land farming. Which means, totally dependent on the rainfall. Lack of irrigation, because of inproper monsoon.

TO BE CONTD.

Lack of proper irrigation Indian farmers are heavily dependent on monsoons. They don’t have any source for proper irrigation farming. Irrigation farming is when crops are grown with the help of irrigation systems by supplying water to land through rivers, reservoirs, tanks and wells, etc. 58% of farmers having committed suicides had absolutely

no irrigation facilities.

TO BE CONTD.

IndebtnessAccording to a well-known saying, the Indian peasant is born in debt, lives in debt and dies in debt. With the increase in the level of poverty, the level of debt increases. The burden of debt passes on from generation to generation. Indebtness is the reason behind the suicide of 93% farmers.The Indebtness is caused by following reasons :-

1. Poverty of the farmers.2. Small sized holdings.3. High rates of interest by private money lenders.4. Addiction to drinking.5. Excessive burden of land revenue.6. Burden of Marriages. TO BE CONTD.

Lack of power supply And Groundwater

Many tasks related to agriculture are power/electric dependent. Costly or no electricity supply proves to a significant problem. Due to overdependence on groundwater for all purposes domestic or industrial in India, ground water table is decreasing at an alarming rate. Many farmers due to lack of proper irrigation systems, use tube wells and are now facing problems due to it.

TO BE CONTD.

Expensive Technologies

It is too risky to adopt expensive technologies such as tractors, plows etc.

Impact Of Suicides• Farms are confiscated due to inability to pay back high

interest loans.• Harassment of the family by corrupt money lenders. • Children sometimes lose both parents to suicide. Leaving

their education in between, and they have to work in order to provide for their needs.• It causes a lot of psychological

distress to family.• The families moves from farm labor to permanent labor.• This also leads to child labor.

What government can do?• Immediate compensation for crop failure.• Effective crop insurance to cover all crops and all

farmers.• Profitable prices, direct procurement from farmers.• Modify export/import policies and tariffs in favour of

Indian farmers.• Bank credit to all farmers with adequate scale of

finance.• Day-long joint session of Assembly/Parliament to

discuss farmer suicides and agrarian crisis.• Seed support, manure, cost of cultivation can be

provided.• Interest free loan and free health insurance services are

also be provided.

T H A N K S