FARMERS SUICIDES IN INDIA

In 2012, the National Crime Records Bureau of India reported 13,754 farmer suicides.Farmer suicides account for 11.2% of all suicides in India.

In India, one farmer committed suicide every 32 minutes between 1997 and 2005.

Over 3,000 farmer suicides in the last 3 years

Maharashtra is by far the epicentre of the crisis, with over 10,000 recorded farm suicides between 2011 and 2013. This year, the Marathwada region alone has seen over 200 farmer suicides in just three months In karnataka from April 1,2015 to August 10 2015 284 suicides were reported.

DROUGHTINDEBTEDNESS

FARMERS DEPENDENCY ON MONSOONSEXPENSIVE TECHNOLOGYMISGUIDED POLICIESGREEN REVOLUTIONCROP FAILURESMALL LAND HOLDINGS

REASONS FOR FARMERS SUICIDES IN INDIA

DROUGHT:Drought leads to non- availability of water that eventually leads to crop failure .

INDEBTEDNESS:When farmers don’t get sufficient loan from banks or banks refuse to provide loan . Then farmers are forced to approach the moneylenders who provide loans on very high interest rates which are not payable. FARMERS DEPENDENCY ON MONSOONS: This is the one the main causes,70% of the farms are dependent on the monsoons.Due to monsoonal failures leads to droughts and famines.Monsoon burst leads to floods.These causes losses.

FLOOD DESTROYS CROP

EXPENSIVE TECHNOLOGY:

Introduction of HYV seedsUse of chemical fertilizers

Use of insecticidesNew technologyUse of pesticides

GREEN REVOLUTION

Late monsoonHeavy monsoonInsectsNatural calamityClimate changeDroughtSMALL LAND HOLDINGS

CROP FAILURE

Farms are confiscated due to inability to pay back high interest loans. �Harassment of the family by corrupt moneylenders.

Widows burdened with the new responsibility as �the sole breadwinner. Children sometimes lose both parents to suicide. �Forcing their education to a halt, especially if they have to work in order to provide for their needs

What happens to the families after a farmer commits suicide?

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.

Seed support, manure, cost of cultivation can be provided.

Interest free loan and free health insurance services are also be provided.

What government can do?

Madegowda,48, a sugarcane grower in Kothathi village of Mandya district, committed suicide on July 25. Speaking to Frontline, his friend Jawaregowda, who was also the vice-president of the gram panchayat, said Madegowda’s last crop, grown on three acres (one acre is 0.4 hectare) of leased land (he grew paddy on his own land extending to two acres) had yielded 120 tonnes of sugarcane. “Last year’s crop, which was to be harvested in July 2014, was lifted by three sugar mills in Mandya only in October 2014,” said Jawaregowda. The delay meant a loss in the crop’s sugar content, and the average price was Rs.2,250, which was below last year’s minimum support price (MSP) of Rs.2,500 a tonne. To make matters worse, Madegowda received payment for only 30 tonnes, from one mill. This implied that the unpaid dues from the last harvest amounted to more than Rs.2.25 lakh. Meanwhile, Madegowda had invested in his next crop, amounting to about Rs.1.25 lakh an acre, according to Jawaregowda.

CASE STUDY

Since Madegowda had already exhausted the credit limit available from institutional sources (the local State Bank of Mysore branch and the cooperative), he was forced to turn to “hand loans” (story on page 13) to the extent of Rs.3 lakh, half of which was charged at 1.5 per cent a month, implying an annual rate of interest of 18 per cent. “How can a small farmer approach the sugar mills for what is due to him when even the Chief Minister says he is helpless in getting them to pay us?” asked Jawaregowda.

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