New Delhi: There is little doubt that 2016 was replete with positive data on agriculture sector - a normal monsoon, record production of grains and perishables, and a rebound in the farm sector growth after consecutive years of drought-induced dismal performance. However, this positive data failed to lift farmers’ sentiment because of the collapse of agricultural markets. For several months now they have been protesting, demanding loan waivers and better crop prices.
The latest to join the league of positive data is a number provided by agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh to Parliament on Wednesday. Citing a to-be-released National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report, Singh said that 11,458 farmers and agricultural labourers took their lives in 2016. He said that even a single death is a matter of concern but argued that the rate of growth of suicides in the farm sector is falling.
Indeed, the number of suicides in the farm sector is the lowest since 1996.
But does this mean farmers’ suicides are on the wane? While a clearer picture will emerge when NCRB publishes its annual report a few weeks from now - giving out numbers separately for farmers and agricultural labourers - one way to explain the lower suicides is that a normal monsoon and a record harvest may have brought down the all India numbers due to lower deaths in usually troubled regions such as Marathwada, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Read more
The latest to join the league of positive data is a number provided by agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh to Parliament on Wednesday. Citing a to-be-released National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report, Singh said that 11,458 farmers and agricultural labourers took their lives in 2016. He said that even a single death is a matter of concern but argued that the rate of growth of suicides in the farm sector is falling.
Indeed, the number of suicides in the farm sector is the lowest since 1996.
But does this mean farmers’ suicides are on the wane? While a clearer picture will emerge when NCRB publishes its annual report a few weeks from now - giving out numbers separately for farmers and agricultural labourers - one way to explain the lower suicides is that a normal monsoon and a record harvest may have brought down the all India numbers due to lower deaths in usually troubled regions such as Marathwada, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Read more