THRISSUR: Jijo Paul, 49, a farmer from Kuzhur in Mala, committed suicide by hanging himself in the first floor of his house on Friday. This has brought the number of farmer suicides owing to crop loss in the flood to nine in the past couple of months. He took the extreme step when his efforts to sell his house and try for a job in the gulf to repay the loan he took from Kuzhur Cooperative Society bank failed.
As per primary data, Jijo had a debt of around Rs 18 lakh over the years and he couldn’t find a way to repay it. “He used to take land for lease in and around Kuzhur and Kundoor for plantain cultivation. He also tried vegetables and yam farming as well in the leased land. But, the crop damage in the flood affected his financial planning and he couldn’t find a way to repay the debts,” said Joy, Jijo’s cousin.
His 15 cents and the house is pledged in the bank as security for the loan. Though he tried to sell the house, it didn’t work out in the profitable price range. Jijo used to meet Joy every day as he lived just a kilometre away. “He used to share his worries and tried hard to find a way. But I never thought he would do such an act,” said Joy. In between, Jijo also tried a hand in wholesale business of banana after taking membership in the group under the Kerala Horticulture Development Programme (KHDP) of Vegetable and Fruit Promotion Council.
According to N D Paulson, Kuzhur panchayat vice-president, “Over 200 plantain trees he had cultivated were totally destroyed in the flood. He had taken the plantain farm for lease, but he lost the entire investment.” Jijo is survived by wife Siji and two children aged six and two. His father and younger brother stay at Alamattom near Kundoor while a sister is married and stays with her family.