RF Assignment

Is Debt a cause of Farmer s Suicide? Problems and Solutions

Submitted By: Arindam Chowdhury (31011) Gaurav Jain (31014) Satyaranjan Patra (31045) Vaibhav Gupta (31055)

Agriculture has always been celebrated as the primary sector in India. India is an agrarian economy and close to 70% of the population still depends on agriculture for its livelihood. The worst cases of farmers committing suicides come from the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra. To understand this, one must analyse the agricultural set up in India. Indian agriculture is dependent on monsoon. Present Irrigation facilities do not cover the entire cultivable land. Failure of monsoon directly affects the farmers. Secondly, Indian agriculture is largely an unorganized sector, there is no systematic planning in cultivation, farmers work on lands of uneconomical sizes, formal finances are not available and minimum purchase prices of the government do not in reality reach the poorest farmer. Added to this, the cost of agricultural inputs have been steadily rising over the years and the price rise in inputs is not complemented by an increase in the purchase price of the agricultural produce. The farmers normally resort to borrowing from money lenders in the absence of formal source of finance. So, debt cannot be attributed as the only cause for farmer suicide. There as several other factors that contributes to farmers suicide as discussed earlier. The fact that majority of the farmers in India own as little as two acres of land, cultivation on such small sized lands is not feasible. Repeated crop failures, debt trap, lack of alternative sources of income, absence of formal finance have left the farmers with no other solution other than ending their lives. Another disturbing trend has been observed where farmers commit suicide in order to avail relief and benefits announced by the government to support the families of the farmers who have died. Here are some solutions that could help in improving the state of the farmers: 1. The dependency of agriculture on monsoon should be reduced. This calls for effective water management during seasons of good monsoons. Prevention of crop failure should be the primary aim. Water management should be made more effective through inter-state cooperation, where surplus water from perennial rivers can be diverted to those regions facing drought, as it is being observed, as one state face severe drought, another state face worst floods, such regional imbalances can be managed by effective utilization of water resources throughout the country.

2. Making institutional finance available to every farmer is another important solution to save the farmers from debt traps of money lenders. Where institutional finance is available, it should be made hassle free and easily accessible to the farmers. In addition, monitoring is also needed to ensure that the farmers are using the funds for the right purposes. If a loan taken for productive purpose should be used for production and not for consumption or social purpose. 3. Farmers need to be advised and guided on economical methods of cultivation. The technological advancement in agriculture should be passed down to the farmers. Agriculture should be approached professionally and not as a traditional occupation. 4. Also pooling of the lands of small and marginal farmers and making a bigger chunk of cultivable land can be another possible solution. Through pooling of lands, the small farmers can avail the economies of scale in cultivation. Besides, pooling of lands farmer can think of aggregating their produce. This can be done with the formation of Producer Company. 5. Small and marginal farmers should be encouraged to develop alternative sources of income and the government should take steps to provide training to the farmers to acquire new skills. 6. Relief packages like debt waiver scheme, personal compensation, etc should be given as a benefit to farmers to enable them to sustain their livelihood rather than as a relief to families of farmers who commit suicide. In addition to above, increasing the efficiency of agricultural extension activities, provide market and improving the infrastructure also helps in checking cases of farmer suicide. As has been mentioned earlier, there cannot be one single and most effective solution to prevent the suicides of farmers. Social responsibility also goes a long way to help the farmers. The big land owners in most places do not help small and marginal farmers. General public, NGOs, Corporate and other organisations too can play a part in helping farmers. The solution to the farmer's plight should be directed towards enabling the farmers to help themselves and sustain on their own.