Farmers suicide in India

The consequences of climate change are harsh worldwide, but they are noticeably more tragic in
countries whose income is mostly derived from something as climate-dependent as agriculture. This
is the case in India, a country where one farmer commits suicide every thirty minutes.

The destruction of their crops due to the climatic conditions and the subsequent impossibility to face
the economic damages are the reasons that have been used to explain this collective and sectorial
suicidal outburst.

However, something else could be hidden behind this tragic and macabre statistic. These readings
reflect the possible reasons for the suicides of farmers in India.

These literatures reveal a major problem that has been occurring in certain regions of India.
According to several sources, Indian farmers are committing suicide because of the failure of Bt
(genetically modified) crops. Independent research confirms that the vast majority of farmer
households where suicide occurred are directly linked to Bt cotton failure and approximately
another 10% are indirectly linked to failure.

India's agricultural sector, which contributes only 21 per cent of the country's gross domestic
product, is highly inefficient, wasteful and constrained by inconsistent government policies, all of
which result in the loss of employment of large numbers of small farmers, especially those with land
areas below two hectares.

This analysis will focus on Monsanto, a multinational giant that provides and promotes the
cultivation of genetically modified cotton, and which according to various sources could be
responsible for many of the problems that India has been experiencing with respect to farmers'
suicides. This multinational managed to sign a memorandum with several regional governments in
which it distributed its genetically modified products.

The farmers were seduced by the proposal. The future towards a better life was closer with these
fertile seeds from Monsanto. When the situation is desperate, conditions for Indian farm workers
are deplorable, any promise of improvement is welcome.

However, many did not know that these transgenic seeds, which are much more expensive than
natural ones, required a much higher amount of water in order to flower. The lack of rain in the
country, or the floods, only increased the problem.

Without crops, without fruit, the farmers could not cope with the debts and credits. Many of them
got out of the way and it was their relatives who inherited the debts, which will be passed on from
generation to generation.

By controlling the market, Monsanto deprived the farmers of the different options on which cotton
to grow, forcing those who do not have the capacity to irrigate to grow seeds that require irrigation.
However, Monsanto insists that the problem of suicides started long before the company introduced
its genetically modified cotton and rejects the existence of links between suicides and its product.
For its part, the government claims that this is a long-standing problem.

The purpose of this information is not only to show what is happening in India, but also to define the
problem well so that a solution can be found, which should consist of both psychological and
economic help for the farmers who are losing their livelihood.

Joseph Dylan Loardo Ruiz