Latest news with #farmerSuicides
Arab News
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Climate change heightens risk of Indian farmer suicides
BEED: On a small farm in India's Maharashtra state, Mirabai Khindkar said the only thing her land grew was debt, after crops failed in drought and her husband killed suicides have a long history in India, where many are one crop failure away from disaster, but extreme weather caused by climate change is adding fresh yields due to water shortages, floods, rising temperatures and erratic rainfall, coupled with crippling debt, have taken a heavy toll on a sector that employs 45 percent of India's 1.4 billion husband Amol was left with debts to loan sharks worth hundreds of times their farm's annual income, after the three-acre (one-hectare) soybean, millet and cotton plot withered in scorching swallowed poison last year.'When he was in the hospital, I prayed to all the gods to save him,' said 30-year-old Mirabai, her voice died a week later, leaving behind Mirabai and three children. Her last conversation with him was about personal tragedy is replicated daily across Marathwada, a region in Maharashtra of 18 million, once known for fertile year, extreme weather events across India affected 3.2 million hectares (7.9 million acres) of cropland — an area bigger than Belgium — according to the New Delhi-based Center for Science and Environment research 60 percent of that was in Maharashtra.'Summers are extreme, and even if we do what is necessary, the yield is not enough,' said Amol's brother and fellow farmer Balaji Khindkar.'There is not enough water to irrigate the fields. It doesn't rain properly.'Between 2022 and 2024, 3,090 farmers took their own lives in Marathwada, an average of nearly three a day, according to India's Minister of Agriculture Shivraj Singh statistics do not specify what drove the farmers to kill themselves, but analysts point to several likely factors.'Farmer suicides in India are a consequence of the crisis of incomes, investment and productivity that you have in agriculture,' said R. Ramakumar, professor of development studies at the Tata Institute of Social across many Indian smallholdings is done largely as it has been for centuries, and is highly dependent on the right weather at the correct time.'What climate change and its vulnerabilities and variabilities have done is to increase the risks in farming,' Ramakumar 'is leading to crop failures, uncertainties... which is further weakening the economics of cultivation for small and marginal farmers.'The government could support farmers with better insurance schemes to cope with extreme weather events, as well as investments in agricultural research, Ramakumar said.'Agriculture should not be a gamble with the monsoon.'Faced with uncertain weather, farmers often look to stem falling yields by investing in fertilizers or irrigation banks can be reluctant to offer credit to such uncertain turn to loan sharks offering quick cash at exorbitant interest rates, and risking catastrophe if crops fail.'It is difficult to make ends meet with just farming,' Mirabai said, standing outside her home, a tin-roofed hut with patch-cloth husband's loans soared to over $8,000, a huge sum in India, where the average monthly income of a farming household is around $ works on other farms as a laborer but could not pay back the debt.'The loan instalments piled up,' she said, adding that she wants her children to find jobs outside of farming when they grow up.'Nothing comes out of the farm.'The agricultural industry has been in a persistent crisis for while Maharashtra has some of the highest suicide rates, the problem is people in the farming sector killed themselves every day in 2022, according to national crime records bureau another farm in Marathwada, 32-year-old farmer Shaikh Imran took over the running of the family smallholding last year after his brother took his own is already more than $1,100 in debt after borrowing to plant crop the pop of explosives echoes around as farmers blast wells, hoping to hit water.'There's no water to drink,' said family matriarch Khatijabi. 'Where shall we get water to irrigate the farm?'
The Independent
08-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Environment Secretary accuses Tories of trying to ‘weaponise' farmer deaths
Environment Secretary Steve Reed has accused his Conservative opposite number of trying to 'weaponise' farmer deaths, as he faced calls to resign over inheritance tax changes. Tory shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins told the Commons there is still time for ministers to change their policy, which she described as 'the family farm tax'. From April 2026, farmers who previously did not have to pay inheritance tax on their agricultural property face a new effective rate of 20%. The first £1 million of combined agricultural and business property, such as farmland, would not be taxed. To mark Victory in Europe (VE) Day, Ms Atkins thanked 'those women and men who formed the Land Army to feed our troops and our nation'. She continued: 'Many of their descendants still farm the same fields they did in the war, but this tradition is under threat from this Government. 'Before Christmas, I warned the Secretary of State that a farmer had taken their own life because they were so worried about the family farm tax. He responded with anger and later stopped the Farming Resilience Fund which helped farmers with mental ill health. 'This week, I have received the devastating news that several more farmers have taken their own lives because of the family farm tax. 'This is the Secretary of State's legacy, but he can change it because it is not yet law. Will he set out these tragedies to the Prime Minister (Sir Keir Starmer), demand that Labour policy is changed, or offer, on a point of principle, his resignation?' Mr Reed replied: 'Can I express my regret that the shadow secretary of state would seek to politicise personal tragedy in this way? 'I think it's immensely regrettable that she would seek to do that. None of us can know for sure what happens in matters of personal tragedy, but I think it's beneath her, actually, to try to weaponise it in the way that she has done. 'This Government takes the issues of mental health very, very seriously indeed. 'That is why we are setting up mental health hubs in every community so that we can support farmers and others who are suffering from mental health, which I would again gently remind her a problem that escalated during her time in office as secretary of state for health where she failed to address the problems people are facing.' Ms Atkins later said the Government's planning system rule changes feature 'the removal of our ancient property rights first enshrined in the Magna Carta'. She referred to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which if agreed to would give Natural England the power to buy land if it is taking a 'conservation measure'. Ms Atkins said the public body would be able to buy land for 'undefined environmental reasons', and added: 'They can seize not just agricultural land but also our constituents' gardens, and they don't even have to pay market value for it. 'Will the Secretary of State now commit to an amendment in the Bill to save our constituents' gardens, or is this 'Labour's garden grab'?' Mr Reed replied this was a 'complete misrepresentation of the truth' and urged Ms Atkins to 'stick to the facts'. – The Samaritans can be contacted anonymously on 116123 or email jo@
