Farmar Suicides
WP-2007-014
Risks, Farmers’ Suicides and Agrarian Crisis in India:
Is There A Way Out?
Srijit Mishra
Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai
September 2007
2
Risks, Farmers’ Suicides and Agrarian Crisis in India:
Is There A Way Out?1
Srijit Mishra
Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR)
General Arun Kumar Vaidya Marg
Goregaon (E), Mumbai- 400065, INDIA
Email: srijit@igidr.ac.in
Abstract
Poor returns to cultivation and absence of non-farm opportunities are indicative of the larger socio-economic malaise in rural India. This is accentuated by the multiple risks that the farmer faces – yield, price, input, technology and credit among others. The increasing incidence of farmers’ suicides is symptomatic of a larger crisis, which is much more widespread. Risk mitigation strategies should go beyond credit. Long term strategies requires more stable income from agriculture, and more importantly, from non-farm sources. Private credit and input markets need to be regulated. A challenge for the technological and financial gurus is to provide innovative products that reduce costs while increasing returns.
The institutional vacuum of organising farmers needs to be addressed through a federation of self-help groups (SHGs) or alternative structures.
Key words: Credit burden, Crop loss/yield uncertainty, Market vulnerabilities (price shocks and increasing input costs), Returns to cultivation, Suicide Mortality Rate (SMR).
JEL Code(s): D81, O13
1 This is being prepared as a keynote paper for the theme “Risk Management in Agriculture/Rural Sector” for presentation at the 67th Annual Conference of the Indian Society of Agricultural Economics (ISAE) to be held under the auspices of Bankers Institute of Rural Development, Lucknow during the first week of November
2007. The author thanks Professor S. S. Johl and the ISAE for giving him this opportunity. Usual disclaimers apply. 3
Risks, Farmers’ Suicides and Agrarian
Risks, Farmers’ Suicides and Agrarian Crisis in India:
Is There A Way Out?
Srijit Mishra
Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai
September 2007
2
Risks, Farmers’ Suicides and Agrarian Crisis in India:
Is There A Way Out?1
Srijit Mishra
Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR)
General Arun Kumar Vaidya Marg
Goregaon (E), Mumbai- 400065, INDIA
Email: srijit@igidr.ac.in
Abstract
Poor returns to cultivation and absence of non-farm opportunities are indicative of the larger socio-economic malaise in rural India. This is accentuated by the multiple risks that the farmer faces – yield, price, input, technology and credit among others. The increasing incidence of farmers’ suicides is symptomatic of a larger crisis, which is much more widespread. Risk mitigation strategies should go beyond credit. Long term strategies requires more stable income from agriculture, and more importantly, from non-farm sources. Private credit and input markets need to be regulated. A challenge for the technological and financial gurus is to provide innovative products that reduce costs while increasing returns.
The institutional vacuum of organising farmers needs to be addressed through a federation of self-help groups (SHGs) or alternative structures.
Key words: Credit burden, Crop loss/yield uncertainty, Market vulnerabilities (price shocks and increasing input costs), Returns to cultivation, Suicide Mortality Rate (SMR).
JEL Code(s): D81, O13
1 This is being prepared as a keynote paper for the theme “Risk Management in Agriculture/Rural Sector” for presentation at the 67th Annual Conference of the Indian Society of Agricultural Economics (ISAE) to be held under the auspices of Bankers Institute of Rural Development, Lucknow during the first week of November
2007. The author thanks Professor S. S. Johl and the ISAE for giving him this opportunity. Usual disclaimers apply. 3
Risks, Farmers’ Suicides and Agrarian