Farmers Suicides In India - Indian Streams Research Journal

Research Paper - Economics 

Farmers Suicides In India 

Vol. 1, Issue . 1 / February 2011, pp. 113-117 

- Dr. P. V. Deshmukh 

Dept. of Economics, 

Dr. Babasaheb Amedkar Marathwada 

University, Aurangabad 

Agriculture sector has a pivotal role in 

Indian economy. The share of agriculture 

sector in G.D.P. of India was 44.0% during 

1973-74 .Agriculture provides the principal 

means of livelihood for over 60 percent of 

India's population. There a significant increase 

in production between 1951-52 to 1959-1960 

was due to favorable monsoons and 

expansion of acreage not yield. In Indian 

planning agriculture sector ignored except few 

five years plan. Indian planning has not be 

given appropriate priority to agriculture. 

There are lot of limitations for protection to 

agriculture in new economics policy. In 

globalization era grant in aid of agriculture 

were drawn and in other hand import of 

agricultural products allowed without 

restrictions at large amount. In the processes of 

industrialization there are drastic changes in 

climate , due to this agriculture productivity 

suffered . Banking sector is not ready to 

provide credit /loan to Agriculture for avoiding 

risk .Farmers were trapped by private debt . 

Maharashtra is suffering with same problem 

.Maharashtra Government took some decision 

tackle this problem. But unfortunately 

decisions taken by Maharashtra Government 

are not effective because after the legal 

provision taken by Government there is no 

development in farmer's life. According to 

some economist and socialist Agriculture 

sector is a bone of Indian Economy therefore 

farmer's must have some protection but lack 

of protection and favorable policies to 

agriculture , lead to suicides of farmers at large 

On this background, in the present paper I have 

focused on the causes of farmer's suicide , 

nature of problem, consequences ,and 

remedies. 

Causes : 

There are various economic ,social , 

political , individual and environmental causes 

of farmer's suicide in India. The causes of this 

crisis are complex and manifold, they are 

dominantly related to public policy and 

economic strategy. 

Absence of adequate social support 

infrastructure at the level of village. 

Uncertainty of agricultural enterprise in 

India., 

Indebtedness of farmers. Rising cost of 

cultivation. 

Lack of credit availability for small 

farmers. There has been minimal financial 

support from the government for small 

farmers. 

Lack of irrigation facilities. 

Lack of Government Vision and clarity of 

intention to benefit the poor and small 

farmers. 

Reduction of agriculture subsidies. 

Environmental pollution. 

Exploitation of natural resources (water, 

Indian Streams Research Journal / 113

Farmers Suicides In India 

forest) 

Unfavorable international policies. 

Lack of increasing in the prices of 

agricultural products compare to 

agricultural inputs. Indian farmers are 

facing is the dramatic fall in prices of farm 

produce as a result of the WTO's free trade 

policies. 

Monocultures and uniformity increase the 

risk of crop failure , as diverse seeds 

adapted to diverse to eco-system are 

replaced by the rushed introduction of 

uniformity and often untested seeds into 

the market. When Monsanto first 

introduced Bt Cotton in 2002, the farmers 

lost 1 billion rupees due to crop failure. 

The drinking habit which atrophies the 

productivity of the farmer. 

Extravagant expenditure on marriages. 

Bad health and illness and inability to 

meet the necessary expenditure on 

medicine and health services. 

Government has destroyed Important 

public institutions. 

Rehabilitation packages e.g. Package of 

Central Government, Package of State 

Government, Lone Waiver Proposal, etc 

are not implementing in proper way to 

relief needy farmers. 

Public expenditure on rural development 

fell during this period from 14.5 percent to 

G.D.P. in 1991 to 5.9 percent I 2004 (P. 

Sainath, The Hindu -2/2/2010 

Intensity of the problem : 

There were lot of studies have been done by 

various social workers N.G.Os, Economist, 

Institutions, journalist ( P.Sainath) ,etc. But 

there are different approaches to understand the 

nature ,causes and rehabilitation packages 

which are announced by governments .The 

states Maharashtra , Andhra Pradesh 

,Karnataka Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh 

are suffering from this problem especially. 

According to P.Sainath , the number of farmers 

who have committed suicide since 1997 to 

2008 in these five state was 122823 and all 

India level was 199132. Prof . Nagraj proved 

that the farmers suicide rate was 12.9 between 

the period 1997 to 2005 and one farmer 

committed suicide every 53 minutes in India. 

On the basis National Crime Records Bureau , 

it is possible that at least two lakh farmers 

committed suicide in the last 12 years . Most of 

experts are agree with the seriousness of 

concern problem .I had tried to focus on 

farmer's suicides in India with some statistics 

which are published by various expert 

committees and thinkers . 

Trends of farmers suicides : 

Vol. 1, Issue . 1 / February 2011 

T.1: Farmers suicides : Big five states and India 

Year Maharashtra Andhra Karnataka Madhya Total of All India 

Pradesh 

Pradesh & 5 states 

Chhattisgarh 

1997 1917 1097 1832 2390 7236 13622 

1998 2409 1813 1883 2278 8333 16015 

1999 2423 1974 2379 2654 9430 16082 

2000 3022 1525 2630 2660 9837 16603 

2001 3536 1509 2505 2824 10374 16415 

2002 3695 1896 2340 2578 10509 17971 

2003 3836 1800 2678 2511 10825 17164 

2004 4147 2666 1963 3033 11809 18241 

2005 3926 2490 1883 2660 10959 17131 

2006 4453 2607 1720 2858 11638 17060 

2007 4238 1797 2135 2856 11026 16632 

2008 3802 2105 1737 3152 10797 16196 

Total 41404 23279 25685 32454 122823 199132 

Aver 

age 

3450.33 1940 2140 2704.5 10235.3 16594.3 

Source:www.inditogether.org- Date: 3/11/2010 

P. Sainath has focused with above statistics 

on farmers suicide in the five big states. In the 


Farmers Suicides In India Vol. 1, Issue . 1 / February 2011 

period from 1997 to 2008 average of farmers 

suicide in these five state is 10235.3 per year 

and all India level the average suicides of 

farmers suicide is 16594.3. Maharashtra is 

known by progressive and developed state but 

in other side number of farmers suicide is 

maximum in India because the average of 

farmers suicides in Maharashtra is 3450.33 

which is more than other four states due to 

failure of cotton crops and increasing debt 

during the period 1997-2008. 

State-wise distribution of farm suicides : 

All states of India are facing the 

problem of farm suicides. We can get idea of 

state-wise number of farmers committing 

suicides with the 2001 Census. 

T2 : State-wise number and rate of farmers 

suicides (2001) 

Sr. 

No 

State 

Number of suicides 

Among 

farmers 

Among all 

population 

% of farm 

suicide to 

total suicide 

Suicide rate (per 100000 members) 

Among Farmers 

In general 

population 

With all 

cultivator 

With only 

main 

cultivator 

1 Maharashtra 3536 14618 24.2 15.1 29.9 34.7 

2 Karnataka 2505 11881 21.1 22.5 36.4 40.5 

3 Andhra P 1509 10522 14.3 13.8 19.2 20.4 

4 Chhattisgarh 1452 4025 36.1 19.4 33.7 41.6 

5 Madhya P. 1372 6860 20.0 11.4 12.4 14.4 

6 West Bengal 1246 13690 9.1 17.1 22.0 27.3 

7 Kerala 1035 9572 10.8 30.1 142.9 176.5 

8 Tamil Nadu 985 11290 8.7 18.1 19.3 20.8 

9 Uttar P. 709 3827 18.5 202 3.0 3.7 

10 Gujarat 594 4791 12.4 9.5 10.2 12.6 

11 Rajasthan 505 3195 15.8 5.7 3.8 5.3 

12 Orissa 256 4052 6.3 11.0 6.0 7.5 

13 Assam 167 2647 6.3 9.9 4.5 6.2 

14 Haryana 145 2007 7.2 9.5 4.8 6.5 

15 Pondicherry 91 529 17.2 54.3 834.9 865.8 

16 Bihar 88 853 10.3 0.8 0.7 0.9 

17 Punjab 45 648 6.9 2.7 2.2 2.4 

18 Tripura 41 854 4.8 26.7 13.1 16.2 

19 Himachal P. 22 307 7.2 5.1 1.1 2.0 

20 Goa 18 256 7.0 19.0 35.7 60.7 

21 Jammu & 15 153 9.8 1.5 0.9 1.6 

Kashmir 

All India 16415 108506 15.2 10.6 12.9 15.8 

C.V.(%) 116.3 93.4 - 82.3 299.0 280.6 

Maximum states are facing this problem 

at different level. Maharashtra is a progressive 

state but unfortunately Maharashtra was a 

leading state in farm suicides in 2001.The 

coefficient of variation of farms suicide was 

more than general suicides in India. The 

farmers suicide rates were very high compare 

to general suicide rate .It is noted that suicide 

rate of only main cultivator was high in all 

states. State-wise position of suicides in other 

state in critical was Andhra Pradesh ,Karnataka 

and Madhya Pradesh. According to Prof. 

Nagraj on an average one farmer took his life 

every 53 minutes between 1997-2005. 

according to another study on an average there 

has been one farmer's suicide every 32 minutes 

since 2002.In India 86.5 percent of farmers 

who took their own lives were financially 

indebted during 1997 to 2002 (www.un.org- 

21/11/2010). 

Consequences :. 

The government must amend laws that are 

governing the farmers in the Indian agricultural 

sector. If the government does not make any 

urgent recommendations or legal provisions to 

offer relief to the trend of farmer suicide in the 

affected states, the whole country will suffer 

the consequences. Some of these are given 

below: 

* National disaster as farmer suicides 

increase every day. 

* Food productivity will be hit badly. 

* Food inflation will rise at an alarming rate. 

* Severe food crisis. 

* The intensity of unemployment problem 

will be increase. 

* Family problems, Social problems, 

Physiological problems. 



Remedies: 

Farmers need protection through 

protective legislation as nothing is typically 

done to help them settle their debts or tackle the 

unprecedented price rise that leads them to 

commit suicides. Mere lip sympathy by 

political parties and government officials is not 

enough to bridge the widening demand-supply 

gap in the agricultural sector. 

1. Minimum Support Price mechanism for 

agricultural produce should appropriate 

with consideration increase in agricultural 

inputs. 

2. Increase import duty on cotton: Tariff 

barriers should used to discourage import 

3. To integrate surface and groundwater 

irrigation schemes and integrate the line 

department in order that the schemes are 

implemented efficiently. 

4. Ensure that the formal banking system in 

the rural areas covers all the credit 

requirements of farmers and others, and 

that the coverage of the formal financial 

system is extended to all rural households. 

5. Set up a Distress Fund that will provide 

support to banks in chronically drought 

prone areas, and permit some debt relief to 

cultivators in extreme distress. 

6. Focus on increasing agricultural 

productivity with sustained growth and 

lower costs of production. 

7. Develop a land use strategy with particular 

reference to drought-prone areas. 

8. Promote and provide incentives for 

sustainable agriculture 

9. Identify input needs and monitor the 

provision of inputs to farmers 

10. Promote relevant public research in 

agriculture, particularly dry land 

agriculture, for the development of 

drought and disease resistant seeds of 

cereals and pulses. 

11. Analyze the relationship between input 

costs and market prices, and suggest 

appropriate and timely interventions by 

the state/central government agencies, in 

order to ensure remunerative prices to the 

farmers 

12. Monitor the adverse effects of droughts 

and pests on agriculture and bring in the 

required initiatives by the appropriate 

agencies to mitigate distress on account of 

these calamities. 

13. Oversee the settlement of land records, 

registration of all tenancies, and issue of 

passbooks to all cultivators including 

tenants. 

14. Improve infrastructure for crop markets 

and the post-harvest management of the 

produce 

15. Identify proper opportunities to promote 

rural employment, including nonfarm 

employment, encourage diversification 

within and out of agriculture; develop 

value addition activities such as agroprocessing 

in rural areas in a way that 

benefits farmers. 

16. Crop failures are a disaster for farmers and 

their families. Therefore government 

should make legal provision about crop 

insurance because they needy farmers 



take money from private lenders or banks 

or other finical institutions but when the 

crops fail, they are left with no option other 

than death. 

17. Set up a commission with statuary powers 

that takes decisions on the issues such as 

genetic modification technology and its 

impact on Indian agriculture, agriculture 

pricing policy and cropping pattern. 

18. Government should increase public 

expenditure on rural development . 

Bibliography 

1. Prasad C.V; Mathur V. Chatterjee-Sixty 

years of Indian Economy 1947 to 

2007,New Century Publication.New 

Delhi,2007 

2. Chandra S.P.-Economic Survey of India 

1947-48 to 2008-09, New Century 

Publication.New Delhi,2007 

4. Narendra Jadhav Report on Farmers 

Suicide in Maharashtra, 2007 

5. Vandana Shiva-Why Are Indian Farmers 

Committing Suicide & How can We Stop 

This Tragedy,www.voltairent.org- 

16/11/2010. 

6. Wakude S.M.-Suicide of farmers in 

Maharashtra-Causes & Remedies, 

www.nabard - 18/11/2010 

7. P.Sainath - www.indiatogther.org- 

3/11/2010 

8 . www.macroscan.org-15/11/2010 

9. www.un.org-2/11/2010 

10. The Hindu 2/2/2010 

3. Meeta And Rajivlochan-Farmers Suicide 

,YASHADA, Pune,2006

Farmers Suicides In India - Indian Streams Research Journal

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?