Reader's Article - 69 farmer commit suicides in Adilabad district

V.L. Padma Priya

Sixty-nine farmers from Adilabad district committed suicide during the Kharif season that lasted from August to November. The number grew to 93 by December 15. If reports from the Non Governmental Organisations and farmers' associations in Andhra Pradesh are to be believed, failure of Kharif crop and mounting debts are stated to be the reasons for the spate of suicides across various mandals of the district.
In the first week of November itself, over 16 suicides were reported in vernacular newspapers and that's when we put together this committee to ascertain the facts. The committee came up with a report confirming 69 cases of suicide during the Kharif season. Majority of the farmers who took the extreme step had taken large amounts of loans from private usurers and micro-finance operators at high interest rate in order to cultivate cotton, revealed the report.

Confirming the report by the committee, S. Malla Reddy, vice president, Andhra Pradesh Rythu Sangham says over 93 suicide deaths were recorded by the Sangham by December 15, 2009. “The minimum cost of cultivation per acre is around Rs.12,000 so a farmer would require a harvest of six quintals per acre merely to break-even,” he points out. Though the minimum support price for cotton in Kharif 2009 stood at Rs.3000, the low yield-- almost half of the previous year-- pushed the farmers deeper into debts”, the report points out.