BENGALURU: Crop failure is a major cause of suicides among farmers. But several such cases can be averted by establishing a ‘Farmers Welfare Cell’ where they can get counselling and necessary financial assistance for meeting the pressing needs upon verification, according to a report prepared by the Agricultural Development and Rural Transformation Centre (ADRTC) of the Institute For Social and Economic Change (ISEC). Individual farmers should also be brought under the ambit of crop insurance, the report says.
The ADRTC team of Dr A V Manjunatha and Dr K B Ramappa undertook a study to identify causes for farmers’ suicides at the behest of Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. Between July 2015 and June 2016, 1,490 farmers committed suicide in Karnataka.
The report suggests that crop and enterprise diversification should be encouraged to reduce farmers’ distress/risk who look for sustainable income. Since expectation of higher prices is another major cause for suicide, there is a need for government intervention through Minimum Support Price (MSP) covering cost of production plus reasonable profit margin, it said. The report calls for regulating the informal credit market through licencing and fixing norms for charging interest rate and terms of lending.
Dr Manjunatha said 15 states have taken up the exercise. “In Karnataka, we chose the four districts where more farmers’ suicides were reported, Mysuru, Mandya, Belagavi and Haveri. We hope to submit the final report by December.”
Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha leader K S Puttanniah said, “The government should give compensation based on scientific study during floods or drought,’’ he said. It should provide loan packages so that farmers will not go to private lenders, he said. However, he felt only crop insurance will not help.