JAGATSINGHPUR: Another farmer of Jagatsinghpur district allegedly died by suicide on Wednesday after suffering crop loss due to last month’s unseasonal rains.
The farmer, 40-year-old Ashok Parida of Tanra village within Raghunathpur police limits, reportedly hanged himself in his house in the morning. Parida’s death comes in the wake of suicide by another farmer in Balikuda over the same reason last week.
Sources said Parida had grown paddy over eight acre of land of which he owned four acre. He had taken up paddy farming in the rest four acre on sharecropping basis. However, the crop in nearly six acre of land was damaged in the untimely rains, leaving him under relentless pressure to repay the loans he had taken for cultivation.
Besides, the farmer had also taken loans to sustain his seed business at Redhua Bazaar. He had planned to repay the loans after selling his paddy yield. However, the damage to his crop left him in a financial crisis. For the last couple of days, Parida tried to salvage his paddy crop using a combined harvester, but the machine only produced straw with no yield, claimed locals.
Tanra sarpanch Batakrushna Nayak said Parida was under immense stress due to crop loss and mounting debt. The farmer had taken loans of Rs 1.5 lakh from the local cooperative society, Rs 1 lakh from self-help groups (SHGs) and another Rs 1 lakh from private money lender.
Parida’s wife Mamina Nayak said her husband was in a state of despair as he couldn’t think of any way to repay his loans after the crop loss. “He locked himself in his room in the morning. When we broke the door, we found him hanging from the ceiling. Villagers immediately took him to Redhua community health centre where the doctor declared him dead,” she added.
Raghunathpur IIC Sushant Sethy said basing on the complaint lodged by the deceased’s wife, police have registered an unnatural death case. The farmer’s body was sent to the district headquarters hospital for postmortem. Investigation is underway to ascertain the exact cause of his death.
On January 3, 35-year-old farmer Krutibas Swain of Sarana village under Tandikula Panchayat in Balikuda had reportedly hanged himself after his paddy crop was damaged in the rain. Similarly, 60-year-old farmer Dhruba Charan Swain of Chandpura village in Naugaon had died of heart attack on December 27 after witnessing extensive damage to his crop.
(If you are having suicidal thoughts, or are worried about a friend or need emotional support, someone is always there to listen. Call Sneha Foundation - 04424640050, Tele Manas - 14416 (available 24x7) or iCall, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences' helpline - 02225521111, which is available Monday to Saturday from 8 am to 10 pm.)