Farmers suicides in India

[Mohanreddy]

Roughly about half a million farmers are believed to have committed suicide in India over the last two decades or so. The suicides have become a routine affair so much so that the repeat tragedy scarcely attracts any attention worth the name from any quarter. A newly formed state in Southern India called Telangana reports about 500 suicides in the just concluded 2014. The state will surly attract the epithet of a SUICIDE HOT SPOT in India. The south west as well as the north east played truants with the state so much so that the south west beginning with June failed to make a opening till August. August and September witnessed some rainfall worth the name whereas the June and July betrayed altogether. So was the case with North east. There was a scant rainfall in October and November. The suicides are found locked in a proportionate relationship to the weather pattern distortions overtime. The weather pattern distortions are attributed to the global warming inspired climate change. We doubt. It is a doubtful proposition. We believe that the (so called) green revolution- industrial farming indeed- introduced in India in seventies turned the countryside of India in to a sprawling desert. The desert in turn fetches its own variant of climate change- the desert climate? Industrial farming introduced in tropical countries goes on a rampage. It is a genocide indeed. It is after killing the peasant farming. The genocide clears the way for corporate farming? Will the world community take note of the genocide even at this late hour? INSAM should step in to find a way out of the tragedy!

[rene]

Dear Mohanreddy

Many thanks for a very thought provoking post. Weather can indeed be a triggering factor in a complex situtation that was brought about by many factors, including past unfavourable weather. Farmers find themselves trapped in vicious circles of debt and poverty, monocropping (the "groundnut trap"), land degradation, etc. Illiteracy and ignorance is often part of the same basket!

How do see the way out of the vicious circle(s)? Is it policy, access to fair credit, crop insurance (although I have many doubts about some forms of insurance!), good advisory services?

Regards

R

[phanis9]

Results from an experiment in Ghana reveal that rainfall insurance leads to significantly larger agricultural investment and riskier production choices by farmers.
Researchers randomly assigned farmers to receive either cash, free rainfall index insurance, the option to purchase the insurance, or a combination of cash and insurance. The study found significant increases in agricultural investment among farmers who received rainfall insurance, but relatively small effects among those who received cash, leading researchers to conclude that the main constraint to investment is exposure to risk, and not lack of capital. The strongest increases were among those who previously invested the least, with farm expenditures increasing by 65 per cent.

This positive effect suggests that there are production (not just protection) benefits of offering index insurance directly to farmers. This is also an important lesson for microfinance institutions as they consider which financial products can best meet client needs.Capital constraints alone do not appear to be the problem; risk is a key hindrance to investment and thus improved income and growth.

India should propagate weather risk insurance schemes with policy support by incentives to overcome the drastic emotional steps taken by farmers in Crisis.

[Dhanya]

I am joining the forum as the above mentioned posts are about my working state, Telangana.

Apart from the frequent dry spells and droughts , this semi arid area is facing yet another disaster called heat waves.

Heat waves during the farm operations pose a critical challenge to the farming communities.

It is imperative to change the cropping pattern (a deliberate shift from water intensive cotton cultivation)

Dhanya