REASONS FOR FARMERS SUICIDE

REASONS FOR FARMER'S SUICIDE IN INDIA

In India, the statistics show a constant increase in suicide rates, and the states that account for most significant number of suicide are Maharashtra, MP, Chattisgarh, and Karnataka. These five states together accounted for about 90 percent of total farmer suicides. The changes, brought by the government policy of 1991, increased the cost of inputs, whereas, the price that one gets after production has decreased to a large extent or become far more volatile. The producers with small and marginal landholders, who cultivate cash crops such as coffee and cotton, have been particularly hard hit by these changes. The high input costs of cultivation and falling output costs to the increasing number of suicides. A large number of farmers produce at a loss every year. Farming is becoming risky daily due to poor irrigation facilities and decreasing subsidies. Monsoons are a genuine cause of farmer suicides in India. Farmers, when unable to earn money or fulfill the basic requirements of their family, take money from local landlord and moneylenders which result in them getting into debt traps. When these farmers are unable to return such money, they have no option other than to surrender their land to the big sharks with no means of livelihood left for them.