'88% Punjab farmers suicides in 18 years due to debt'

CHANDIGARH: Heavy debt burden accounted for 88% of farmer suicides that occurred in Punjab between 2000 and 2018 - a period that witnessed 9,291 deaths -- finds a new study based on a primary survey by the Punjab Agriculture University (PAU). Of these, more than 77% were those of marginal and small farmers.
The study was aimed at an objective assessment of the incidence and causes of suicides by farmers in the districts of Barnala, Bathinda, Ludhiana, Mansa, Moga and Sangrur. Among these, Sangrur reported the highest number (2,506) of suicides during the 18 years, followed by Mansa (2,098) and Bathinda (1,956). Overall, the number of suicide cases was the highest (630) in 2008 and then registered a decline, which could be due to the 'Debt waiver scheme' announced by the Centre that year.
About 88% of farmers suicides were due to heavy debt burden and the count was the highest of 515 in 2015, which could be due to the failure of the cotton crop, points out the study. Cotton is the major commercial crop of Bathinda, Mansa, Sangrur and Barnala districts and the productivity of American cotton was the lowest (197kg/ha) in 2015 in the last three decades.
"On the basis of the criterion, the observations of the study state that around 88% of the suicide cases fell in the debt category and the remaining about 12% occurred due to non-debt reasons.
"The farm size distribution clearly brings out debt burden as the main reason for small farmer suicides, as over 89% of these victims were motivated by the heavy debt as compared with large farmers where debt-related cases were around 57%," it said.