Harvest of death

DIONNE BUNSHA

Frontline, Issue 17 : Aug. 26-Sep. 08

Mounting debt, rising cost of inputs and falling prices of their produce are driving farmers of the region to suicide.

CHANDRAKANT GURNULE, 35, had always been the prankster in his family. He would sneak up behind people and scare them and always had a wisecrack at hand to entertain the children. But, on April 1 he was not kidding when he told his wife that he wanted to commit suicide. He had said it before. No one took him seriously.

"When are you going to do it?" Chandrakant's wife laughed. That afternoon, he doused himself with kerosene and lit a match. In flames, he ran out of the house where the children were playing. They screamed for help. His brother Prahlad put out the fire and took him to hospital. He died there of severe burns.

In the past year, Chandrakant's sense of humour had dimmed as he sank deeper into debt and depression. "Over the years, the farm was making losses. The loans kept increasing. He used to say, `There's no option but to die'. We didn't take it seriously," said Prahlad. "We even planned to sell four acres [1.6 hectares] of our 16-acre [6.4 hectare] farm and use the money to start some small business. No one expected him to do this."

Chandrakant had a bank loan of Rs.1.05 lakh. He had pawned jewellery worth Rs.30,000. His family has no idea how much he owed moneylenders. "He spent Rs.60,000 to Rs.70,000 on the farm. He got only Rs.40,000 by selling the cotton crop, of which he gave Rs.15,000 to the bank. The jowar crop failed. There was no grain in the house. Everyone in our house was ill with the chikungunya disease. He had no money to sow the next crop," said Prahlad. "He had sold his buffalos, his motorcycle, his thresher machines. Finally, he finished himself."

There have been 728 suicides from August 1, 2005, to August 20, 2006, in Vidarbha, the north-eastern region in Maharashtra, comprising 11 districts. The number since 2001 is 2,279. In recent months, around three suicides have been reported every day. To make matters worse, the recent heavy rains washed away the crop and flooded several villages in eastern Vidarbha.

Around 20 years back, farmers in Vidarbha were prosperous. The rich, black soil is ideal for cotton. However, for a decade now, Vidarbha has been caught in a desperate farm crisis. Cotton is no longer profitable. In 1970, one quintal of cotton - once called `white gold' - had the same value as 12 grams of gold. Now it is a harvest of death.
Suicides are the most extreme manifestation of the agrarian distress in the region. "There is not much difference between those who killed themselves and those of us who are still living. Everyone is in the same distress," said Jitendra Tatte, a cotton and orange farmer who owns 60 acres (24 hectares) of land at Lehegaon village in Amravati district.

The crux of Chandrakant's problem was something beyond his control - high cost of production and low prices for the produce. The minimum support price for cotton (Rs.1,750 a quintal) is far less than the cost of cultivation. "In the last 10 years, the prices of farm inputs rose dramatically. Urea was Rs.80 a bag, now it is Rs.280. A bottle of pesticide was Rs.40, but now it is Rs.240. But the State government lowered the procurement price from Rs.2,250 last year to Rs.1,750 a quintal. How can we survive?" asked Prahlad.

Why has the price not kept up with increasing costs? The international price of cotton lint fell from $1.10 a pound in 1994 to 38 cents in 1998. There was a gush of imports into India. "Between 1997 and 2003, we imported 110 lakh bales, which is more than the total volume of imports since Independence," says Vijay Jawandhia, an activist of the Shetkari Sanghatana, the farmers' association. So, farmers found no market for their produce.

The import tariff for cotton is only 10 per cent, whereas it is 60 per cent for sugar and 80 per cent for paddy. International rules allow the government to increase the cotton tariff up to 150 per cent, but it chooses not to. China has protected its farmers by imposing a 90 per cent import tariff.

Farmers in countries such as the United States and China can sell at a low price because they receive direct subsidies. Our farmers cannot afford to sell at this artificially low price and so keel over. For instance, in the U.S., it costs $1.70 (Rs.79.90) to produce 1 kg of cotton lint, but it is sold for $1.18 (Rs.55.46). To offset the losses, around 20,000 cotton farmers in the U.S. get more than $4 billion in subsidies - approximately Rs.1 crore per farmer per annum, according to the Centre for Science and Environment's (CSE) report on the cotton industry. Farmers in the U.S. get a subsidy of $1 for every kilo of cotton produced, roughly the rate of cotton in the world market. Indian farmers get no subsidy. Vidarbha's 30 lakh-odd cotton cultivators spend Rs.3,000 a quintal, but they get only Rs.1,750.

"On the rare occasion that the retail price of tomatoes or tur dal goes up [as they did just before the monsoon], the media flash it on TV all day, and people in the cities complain. But they are quiet when the prices fall soon after. Do they bother to come here and talk to us when prices crash and we are in a crisis?" asked Prahlad.

If prices are low, can farmers try and reduce costs? Each year, the prices of inputs go up. And the chemical-intensive method that farmers use depletes the fertility of the soil. So every year there are more doses of fertilizers and pesticides needed. It is a vicious cycle. Maharashtra has the highest area under cotton cultivation in the country, but the lowest yield. The cost of production is Rs.70 a kg, double the national average, says the CSE report. The State government is supposed to send extension workers to guide farmers on effective farming techniques. But extension officers are rarely seen in the fields. Farmers rely on pesticide dealers and other farmers for advice, besides advertisements.

If cotton is unprofitable, why not shift to other crops? Farmers in Vidarbha (and most of India) still practise dryland farming - totally dependent on the monsoon. Besides cotton, farmers here grow mainly soyabean, wheat, coarse grains, tur dal, groundnut and oranges (in some areas). Vidarbha has only 10 per cent of its cultivable land under irrigation. "That leaves us with very few options. Besides, prices are low not only for cotton but for most other crops and vegetables. Whatever you choose, there are losses," said Prahlad.

There is not enough water for fodder, so dairy, which could provide a regular income, is also not possible. "Earlier, when we grew jowar, there was a steady source of fodder. But people have stopped growing jowar because it is not profitable, and neither is the dairy business. Now, there are distress sales of our only assets - cattle and land," said Sanjay Tigaonkar, a farmer of Wardha.

The interest waiver on loans and the grant of fresh loans to defaulting farmers, which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced on his tour of Vidarbha on July 1, may at best offer temporary relief. What happens at the end of the season when the farmer is left with no money to pay back the loan?

And what happens to farmers' debts with moneylenders? When the State government suddenly arrested moneylenders in November 2005, farmers were in a financial crunch. Moneylenders are their main source of funds since banks do not lend enough.

Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh admitted that the State had not been able to curb the crisis. "We are doing our best, both the Centre and the State are doing what they can. It's true the suicides are not reducing.

Whatever help we are giving, we have not been able to solve the problem or fully control it. We are looking for suggestions," he said. Several groups in Vidarbha have come forward with suggestions, but the government has ignored the root of the problem - the widening inequalities between urban and rural India.

"Farmers are living only because they are not dying," says Jawandhia.