"Agriculture Deaths” in India.

“As you sow, so will you reap”, this old adage may not hold true in Indian settings.
Recently India is witnessing a number of farmer 'suicidal' deaths mainly due to the drought situation in its various states, poverty and mental illness.
Blame it on Mother Nature, the rain gods or the government, the woes of these les miserables never seem to end!
These poor farmers have only Hobson's choice: they have to choose between a deluge or a drought as nature's inevitable fury engulfs them year after year.
This has been the ordeal before and after Independence with the so-called crop insurance scheme still remaining a mirage.
Of course this is nothing new in India because there were as many as 80 cases of suicides by farmers and agricultural laborers in certain villages of Sangrur district of Punjab between 1993 and 1998. The suicides were triggered by crop failures, unemployment, indebtedness and exploitation by moneylenders. People from the districts of Bargarh, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Bolangir, Naupada and Kalahandi trek to places far off year after year when crops fail and starvation stares them in the face. Both the people affected and the powers that be have taken this abnormal situation for granted.
Low production, high imports: -
The Indian farming sector is already in distress with the growing import of horticulture and agriculture produces from foreign countries.
Imports have increased by 42 per cent within a span of two years to $2.4 billion in 1999-2000, while the Indian export of horticulture produces increased marginally during 1997-98, it dropped during 1998-99 by 9 per cent. Advanced countries like the USA pay billions of dollars as farm subsidy to safeguard the interests of farmers, while India, having all the facility to produce, is now importing horticultural produces.
Agriculturists in India face a wide range of problems like marketing and lack of technology.
In India, we do not subsidize the production of food grains, but subsidize only their distribution.
Take plantations for instance. With no signs of a pick-up in auction prices of tea and rubber, the plantation sector, with the possible exception of cardamom and pepper, remains gloomy. According to UPASI (United Planters' Association of Southern India), tea production was lower at 800 million kg in 1999 compared to 870-mn kg in the previous year. Exports also slumped to 190-mn kg from a healthier 210-mn kg in 1998.

UPASI has urged the Center to immediately halt the import of tea from any country either for re-exports or domestic consumption as the local plantations had enough varieties and quantities to supply at international prices. Equally depressing is the rubber scenario. The average price of lot rubber has tumbled down Rs. 47.50 per kg in 1996 to Rs. 36.80 per kg in 1997 and to Rs. 27 per kg in 1998 and 1999.With the Rubber Board projecting a huge surplus by the end of the March 2001, prices are unlikely to recover. The only hope for rubber is the possibility of using it to surface roads -- in the form of rubberized roads that could be 35 per cent more economical on account of low maintenance cost and durability.


Need of the hour: -
There is need for continuance of subsidies and support services to farmers in view of the special characteristics of Indian agriculture. India would also strive for setting a Food Security Box, much as the Development Box for developing countries, in the forthcoming round of Agreement on Agriculture under the World Trade Organization (WTO).
India proposes to take the stand that subsidy to the poor for food security and poor farmers should be exempted under calculation of the Aggregate Measure of Support (AMS) to the farm sector for withdrawal of subsidies. Also, research, extension, development of infrastructure, cold storages, etc should be kept out of AMS. India would seek the support of the developing countries in this regard.
Most of the States in India insist on the importance of ensuring food and income security to farmers in the context of increasing liberalization in international trade.

According to the Union Agriculture Ministry sources, the AMS in India is well below the maximum level of 10 per cent of the value of farm output and, therefore, India is under no obligation to reduce the domestic support extended to the agriculture sector. As for the commitment on export subsidy under the Agreement, there is no obligation, as India is not providing export subsidies on farm items as other developed countries, mostly of the European Union.

The current scenario: -
For the farmer in India no year offers cheers because of the alternate scourges of drought and floods.
With crops damaged because of scanty rainfall this monsoon and no work available in the villages to earn a livelihood, a large number of poor farm labor have started migrating from the states of Kerala, Andhrapradesh and Maharashtra/Vidharbha.
God's own country state of Kerala, the "Orange"co-state, Vidharbha in Maharashtra, and the "Red hot Chilli"state of Andhrapradesh have now become the’ killing fields' for farmers working there.
Such grievous is the situation that there is one death every hour, especially in Kerala, which has 29.7 suicides per lakh of population vs. the country average of 11.2!
Incurable physical illnesses, alcoholism, adjustment disorders arising from family tensions, unemployment and large scale migration of the male population also contribute to the alarming rise in suicides, according to the state mental health authority (SMHA).
Take the case of Idukku (34) from drought-hit village of Wayanad in Kerala state.
Bad loans, increasing debts and a drought situation has forced him to sell his farmland and take shelter in the nearby town with his family of 6.
Ramagound Surve (45) from Vidharbha's Suklibai area has not been able to share a square meal with his family for the past 10 months. He has decided to abandon his occupation as a farmer and move to Nagpur city in search of 'greener’ pastures to earn a living!
Then there is N.R Reddy (52) from Devada village of Andhrapradesh who has seen his farmland first being 'digested' by the government due to its thermal power project and next due to the drought situation in the state is forced to turn to liquor and gambling in order to pay his debts!
The suicidal drive here is so 'bad' that the government has taken a serious note of it and has encouraged the provision of free electricity in Maharashtra state, the easy distribution and sale of cheap rice in Andhrapradesh through government outlets and launching of the Kerala Integrated Scheme for Intervention of Suicide (KRISIS) for effective implementation of suicide prevention schemes.
The grim situation in Maharashtra: -
A tragic story of a Vidharba farmer epitomizes the plight of the Indian farmer The trigger factor in this case was the destruction of cash crops by hailstorms and unseasonal rains. In one go the hailstorms destroyed standing crops of raw cotton, sun, flower, paddy and orchards of oranges and mangoes.
Vithujivasukar from Malkapur villages of Amaravati district had sowed cotton on his 4.5-acre plot, but lost the entire yield due to unseasonal rains. He had already accumulated debts on account of his daughter's marriage. Driven to the wall he sold his bullock cart and bought an auto rickshaw for his son so as to feed the family of 14. Caught in the vicious circle, he had to sell off the auto rickshaw too to pay some dues, but this too got him bogged down further. A frustrated Vithuji killed himself on March 14, 1998.
Nagpur: In July2004, apparently frustrated after damage to the crop due to insufficient rains in the region, two more farmers from Vidarbha region of Maharashtra have allegedly committed suicide in last two days, taking the number of such deaths to over 15.
36 year-old farmer Ramchandra Premchandra Chavan from Pusad taluka of Yavatmal district allegedly hanged himself to death yesterday (July 13, 2004), according to reports reaching Nagpur today. With three acres land, Chavan had taken a bank loan of Rs 20,000 and Rs 7,000 from a co-operative society, but his soya crop was damaged due to inadequate rainfall.

Another farmer Gangadhar Namdeo Ambhure (27) from Narkhed taluka in rural Nagpur allegedly committed suicide by consuming insecticides to cut short his life two days ago, the reports said.

However, even as media reports mentioned about 14 farmers allegedly committing suicide in the region during past two months burdened with the heavy debts from co-operative banks and private lenders after scanty rains, there is no official confirmation for the same.

With two more farmers ending their life, the number of suicidal deaths by farmers in the Vidarbha region, which is facing drought-like situation, has gone to 16 now.

The grim situation in Andhrapradesh: -
Pest attack has destroyed one third of the groundnut crop in the district. Crop failure, together with indebtedness, ruins the farmer.

In Nizamabad and Karimanager two farmers committed suicide due to crop failure and debt ridden, in June2004.

Three more farmers committed suicide in various parts of Karimnagar district on Thursday. With this the number of suicide cases has gone upto 18 during this year. In Nellore district one farmer-committed suicide in Kondapuram mandal of Nellore district. Three farmers committed suicide in Kurnool district due to financial problems. It is reported that all these suicides are due to debts and failure of crops.

Four farmers and the wife of one of them committed suicide in Chittoor, Anantapur, Kurnool and Khammam districts yesterday and today sending alarm bells ringing in the State Government. As reports started pouring in about these deaths, the Chief Secretary Mohan Kanda held a videoconference with the District Collectors and instructed them to launch help lines immediately and be extra vigilant by taking remedial measures atonce. He also asked them to form committees at the revenue division level to remunerate the suicides by farmers since 1998.
Six farmers committed suicide in Guntur district in the last 24 hours unable to repay the loans they raised for agricultural activity. In Baptla town one farmer committed suicide and in Sattenapalli mandal, a cotton grower consumed pesticide last night and was found dead. According to a report from Warangal, another farmer died on the same lines.
In Nalgonda two farmers committed suicide. All these suicides are due to debts.
The grim situation in Kerala: -
The farmers are not able to save the coconut trees from the relentless attack of a variety of pests. While paddy cultivation has suffered a systematic setback over the years, even the cash crops are now under a threat as a result of the fallout from the liberalization policy.
One more debt-ridden farmer, Palolikkal Rajeev (34), son of Ramankutty today committed suicide at Amarakkuni at Pulpally in Wayanad district. He was a member of the Kerala State Karshaka Thozhilali Union (KSKTA), a feeder organization of the CPI (M).

The police said Rajeev had consumed poison last night. He died at the Sulthan Bathery Taluk Hospital. He had to repay loans to the tune of Rs. one lakh taken from various banks and local moneylenders in Wayanad.

With the suicide death on Thursday the total number of farmers who had committed suicide because of their inability to repay loans in Wayanad district has risen to 33.

Records showed that nearly 188 people had committed suicide in the district from January 1, 2004 till date. At least half of them were debt-ridden farmers say various farmers' organizations. But officials put the number at 21.

Drastic need to address farmers problems: -

Warnings have been issued from time to time by experts and farmers' organizations that something drastic needs to be done, but all cries have fallen on deaf ears!
Marginalized as he is by the irrevocable waves of globalization and driven to the wall by a succession of crop failures, drought and the plummeting prices of farm produces, never since Independence has the Indian farmer faced a crisis of such mammoth proportions as of now.
In just five years, farmers across the country from Punjab to Vidharbha (Maharashtra) and Andhra Pradesh have taken to their ultimate fate, suicide, to free themselves, once for all, from destitution, farming has landed them in!
The new farm policy, while promising a lot for those who dare venture into agro business, offers little hope for millions of marginalized farmers who scan the skies for the elusive drops that will moist their parched fields.



CAPRICO

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MJ

Ahem....Caprico,

Pardon me if i appear a bit dense, but what did you actually wish to convey with this "article" ?

Regards

SF

I wanted to convey,
"Agricultre Deaths in India"!


CAPRICO

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MJ

Well Caprico my friend

Trust me i did read, but Indian agriculture deaths in the "life in Canada" posting area ?

Maybe you wanted to post it in the "News" or " Native country" portions .

Anyhow an interesting article though


Regards

SF