International Journal of Farm Sciences
Year : 2016, Volume : 6, Issue : 3
First page : ( 223) Last page : ( 232)
Print ISSN : 2229-3744. Online ISSN : 2250-0499.

Farmers’ suicides in Punjab and extension strategies

Kaur Kamalpreet*, Kaur Prabhjot

Department of Extension Education, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141004, Punjab, India

*Email for correspondence: preetkamal646@gmail.com

Online published on 25 July, 2018.

Abstract

Agriculture in Punjab has high growth due to introduction of green revolution technology in the mid-1960s for a long time up to early 1990s. It slowed down from late-nineties thereafter due to resources and technology getting exploited closer to the possible limits which led to increasing costs, shrinking resource base, declining productivity, profitability and income etc. Punjab agriculture has been passing through a difficult phase. First the productivity of cotton failed putting the entire cotton belt under stress and then the minimum support prices of wheat and paddy were almost frozen due to falling international prices between 2000–01 and 2004–05. As a consequence the economic distress of farmers’ suicides appeared in the state. Recent happenings in the agricultural sector clearly indicate the manifestation of distress in the form of farmers’ suicides. Suicide is an important issue in the Indian context where more than one lakh lives are lost every year due to suicides. In Punjab state 4687 farmers and farm laborers committed suicides due to indebtedness between 2001–2010. The indebtedness has been a serious issue since long. When the crops fail, they are in debt, which they have no means to repay. They are unable to perform the role of provider for the family. All these factors are to be taken into consideration while understanding an individual farmer committing suicide. Agriculture credit became a low priority; credit for housing and buying a car is available from 9–11 per cent rate of interest while the crop loans to farmers fetch interest of 12 per cent. Indebtedness is also main reason which derived farmers to take such an extreme step.

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Keywords

Suicide, farmer, indebtedness, crop failure.

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