Suicide rate of farmers in my country

My grandfather used to say that once in your life you need a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman and a preacher but every day, three times a day you need a farmer.

-Brenda Schoepp

To all my sisters and friends in worldpulse family,

I would like to share an important issue that is of high shocking and heart breaking. The same issue is prevalent in other countries also, but in my country it is far higher in comparison. It is not a simple issue. The most pathetic thing is, it is still continuing in spite of numerous steps taken by our government and local bodies.

We need food to live. Does anyone have sat down for a while and thought of where the food comes from? Who is cultivating the crops and producing the foods. Most of us live in cities and towns where we receive all the facilities and abundant food supply. Have we ever prayed and thanked the farmers at least once in our life time who are working 365 days in a year to support our living?

 My country India is a land of diverse culture and prosperity. The indo Aryan civilization started at the banks of river Indus which is identified as one among the ancient civilizations in the world. Farming in India started during this civilization. Farming is the backbone of India. “Farmers are worshiped in our country”. They have been recognized as hard workers and are self sacrificing for the welfare of others.

In such a country of where 80% of income is through farming and food production , it is very sad to tell you all that the cases of farmer suicides in India have increased over the past five years. “The National Crime Records Bureau of India” says that the rate of farmer suicides in India is very higher than other occupation. There so many farmers who have quite farming and sold their farming lands in the past five years.  In a statistic it is found that 11.2% of the total suicides in India are committed by farmers.

There are so many reasons for why farmers in my country are trying to commit suicide. The first main reason is the climatic change due to global warming where the monsoon fails and the cultivating lands becomes dry and less productive due to scarcity of water. These climatic changes have damaged the cops and the farmers are left with nothing in their hands. It is in these kind of situations they try take debts to fulfill their economic needs.

In most of the families in India, the farmers are the bread winners. Due to the constant pressure to meet the demands and responsibilities of the family and on the counter part of no profit in farming occupation they opt to suicide.

It is really unfortunate and heart breaking that a farmer who produce food for the whole country and support for the financial growth of my country, dies due to the reason “that there is no food for his own family and no money to meet the financial expectations of his family members”.

Our government has taken a number of steps to control the problem. Steps has been taken to reduce the rate of interest towards agriculture loan. Nonetheless, these haven’t help out considerable. Still the number of farmer’s suicides are still increasing.

As a citizen I feel that when the farmers get the full rights to fix their own purchase and selling price & the schemes and subsides reach the farmers directly, then we can see a decrease in the death rate of farmers in India.

It is really high time for the people in India to join their hand to help and support the farmers in all the ways that could be, to make the farmers to feel they are acknowledged and respected which can help them to work tirelessly & help them live with dignity in the society.