Why farmers commit suicide: hear it from the heartbroken

QUICK PILL

The work

• Farmers incur bigger expenses than their incomes.

• MSP for farmers does little to help.

• Losses pile up year after year.

The absurdity

• A wheat farmer puts in Rs 41, makes just Rs 14.

• It is nearly the same for a paddy farmer.

• A Bt cotton farmer puts in Rs 81, makes Rs 40.

When a farmer commits suicide, how does it impact us? Is it just another statistic? Or does it say something about the apathy that seems to pervade our state and society?

For someone whose life is an endless cycle of borrowing high and selling cheap, making losses and being forced to borrow even more, there seems to be no salvation.

While there may not be much in common between the life of an average farmer and that of the city dweller, their lives are inextricably linked.

When the person who provides the food on our plates takes his own life, he leaves behind a stark message for all of us.

Do we even know how he lives and why he is forced to take his own life?

Unlike any other sector, farmers sell their produce at a price fixed by the government. MS Swaminathan, deemed the father of the 'green revolution', argues that this practice must change and farmers must be assured at least a 50% profit. This he asserts would make the farm sector viable.

There have been many macro-analyses of Indian agriculture. Here, three farmers give a detailed account of their cost and expense.

It is a stark reality check. And demonstrates why Swaminathan may just be right.

Farmer 1

Mohammad Fasih, 59, grows wheat on 10 bighas. Lives in Khan Jahanpur village, in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh.

His farm of 10 bighas, on an average, produces about 3,500 kilos of wheat. At the government-ordained minimum price of about Rs 14 a kg, Fasih will earn nearly Rs 50,000 for his produce.

Considering that the sowing-to-harvest season of wheat in this region is from November to April, this is Fasih's earning from a six-month period of hard labour.

This is roughly Rs 30,000 more than half of the average annual per capita income in India. And all of it is tax-free. So far, so good.

Fasih ought to rejoice that he is doing so well in otherwise taxing economic conditions. Except that, this is not true.

Just like any other economic activity, he incurs a certain amount of spending to make those golden fields come alive. Take a look at his expenses.

Cost per bigha for six months:

• Labour (external): Rs 1,800
• Labour (self and family): Rs 11,000
• Seeds: Rs 200
• Fertiliser: Rs 400
• Insecticide/weedicide: Rs 100
• Transportation: Rs 100
• Total per bigha for six months: Rs 13,600