FARMER SUICIDES AND AGRARIAN

DISTRESS

Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture

States Male Female Total1Andhra Pradesh 2130 395 25252Arunachal Pradesh 18 0 183Assam 352 17 3694Bihar 91 4 955Chhattisgarh 778 348 11266Goa 15 0 157Gujarat 458 65 5238Haryana 261 36 2979Himachal Pradesh 59 2 61

10Jammu & Kashmir 16 2 1811Jharkhand 150 23 17312Karnataka 2128 457 258513Kerala 797 98 89514Madhya Pradesh 973 264 123715Maharastra 2947 194 314116Manipur 0 4 417Meghalaya 15 1 1618Mizoram 5 0 520Odisha 145 17 16221Punjab 80 0 8022Rajasthan 351 39 39023Sikkim 19 0 1924Tamil Nadu 442 99 54125Tripura 46 12 5826Uttar Pradesh 432 116 54827Uttarakhand 33 6 3928West Bengal 800 193 993

Total States 13541 2392 15933

29Union Territories 0

30Andaman & Nicobar 8 0 8

31Chandigarh 0 0 0

32Dadar and Nagar Haveli 10 0 10

33Daman & Diu 0 0 0

34Delhi (UT) 9 0 9

35Lakshadweep 0 0 0

36Puducherry 4 0 4

Total UTs 31 0 31

Total Farmer Suicides 13572 2392 15964

Suicides in 6 districts of VidarbhaYear As per

NCRBAs per Vasantrao Naik Shetkari Swalabhan Mission and Crime Records

2001 116 592002 254 1052003 328 1432004 456 4412005 666 4312006 1886 12152007 1556 11602008 1680 10802009 1954 9912010 2023 10602011 N.A. 680

95 suicides in 1 month in 6 districts, A.P.

District No of Suicides

Adilabad 18

Medak 13

Karimnagar 13

Khamma 17

Mahaboobnagar 10

Ananthapur 24

Total 95

No. of suicides in Oct-Nov 2011, A.P.District October November Total

Adilabad 16 11 27Ananthapur 25 3 28Karimnagar 11 6 17Khammam 14 8 22Kurnool 6 1 7Mahabubnagar 8 16 24Medak 7 9 16Nalgonda 3 0 3Prakasam 0 1 1Rangareddy 1 0 1Srikakulam 1 0 1Warangal 2 8 10Total 94 63 157

List of Genuine Farmer Suicides by Govt of A.P.District 199

71998199920002001200220032004 200

52006200720082009 201

02011 Total

Adilabad 9 18 23 25 25 25 2 68 60 83 48 42 18 6 0 452Ananthapur 9 9 27 35 60 22 13 59 70 65 90 95 40 41 19 654Chittor 0 6 2 4 1 4 7 33 21 26 24 17 9 0 0 154East Godavari 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 4 2 3 2 1 0 8 2 24Guntur 5 12 1 4 5 1 4 69 24 31 22 36 3 20 19 256Kadapa 0 0 0 0 1 5 3 18 17 9 26 21 10 4 1 115Karimnagar 12 15 15 36 38 36 11 96 73 48 55 64 42 0 0 541Khammam 1 7 0 9 4 7 2 37 23 22 7 12 2 0 0 133Krishna 1 0 2 0 1 0 1 23 13 6 4 2 4 6 2 65Kurnool 13 6 3 6 11 7 1 77 64 72 68 66 59 22 9 484Mahbubnagar 4 15 20 9 22 17 4 112 57 35 30 29 17 4 0 375Medak 2 1 5 5 11 25 17 92 45 30 28 32 32 21 7 353Nalgonda 10 9 8 15 19 11 34 53 52 48 13 43 17 11 0 343Nellore 0 0 0 1 0 2 7 6 7 1 2 2 3 0 0 31Nizamabad 1 3 6 8 24 9 8 64 27 12 17 7 10 0 0 196Prakasham 0 4 4 1 1 0 0 44 9 8 10 8 0 9 6 104Rangareddy 0 4 2 1 6 5 2 56 40 19 21 18 25 0 0 199Srikakulam 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 4 1 0 0 1 1 2 1 11Vishakapatnm 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 5 2 1 1 2 3 0 23Vizianagaram 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2W. Godavari 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 11Warangal 46 78 79 95 97 77 27 112 45 32 24 11 2 0 0 725Total 113 188 197 255 327 253 143 1045 655 552 493 509 297 158 66 5251

Main Causes

• Rising costs of cultivation; high dependence on external inputs

• Unremunerative prices – do not cover costs of cultivation, let alone rising living costs

• Unsustainable cropping patterns and production practices

• Trade liberalization and export-import policies• Lack of support systems like credit, insurance,

markets, storage, farmer collectives• Neglect of rainfed agriculture

Our Demands

Immediate Measures•Immediate compensation for crop failure•Remunerative prices, direct procurement from farmers•Modify export/import policies and tariffs in favour of Indian farmers•Provide ex-gratia and loan repayment support for all families of farmer suicides in time-bound manner

Our DemandsAddressing Root Causes•Price Compensation system for all food crops: when MSPs or market prices are less than Target Price (Cost of Cultivation + 50%), the difference should be paid directly to farmers•Guarantee minimum living incomes to all farmers•Promote sustainable agriculture which reduces cost of cultivation and crop risk•Comprehensive rainfed agriculture mission based on diverse cropping systems, protective irrigation and livestock systems

Our DemandsAddressing Root Causes (contd)•Bank credit to all farmers with adequate scale of finance•Effective crop insurance to cover all crops and all farmers•Inclusion of tenant farmers in all support systems

Our DemandsParliamentarians should demonstrate their serious intent of addressing agrarian crisis•Day-long joint session of Parliament to discuss farmer suicides and agrarian crisis•Constitute a Parliamentarians’ Forum on Agrarian Distress to address the causes of the crisis